In the heat of the social network war between Google+ and Facebook, making mistakes, however simple they are, is not an option. Nevertheless, about a month ago in its effort to shine brighter than the constantly growing presence and usage of Google’s social service, Facebook made a rushed decision. And, as it usually happens with rushed things, it don’t end up much good.

The decision in question involved bringing Facebook chat onto the screen. Permanently. There wasn’t any option to close it or even minimize it. The list of all your friends regardless of their status was poking you in the eyes constantly. Not only was this annoying to look at and use, but it was also messing up with social network recent chat integration with Skype. And that was just not cool, making more people look even more in Google+ direction.

It looks as if Facebook has listened to all the complains of its most loyal users, who haven’t abandoned ship yet, and made a few revisions to its new chat look. For starters, now the chat box can accommodate more friends thanks to the ability to scroll through them.

Yet, probably the most notable improvement of them all, is the bringing out the option to hide the chat box. Previously, you had to dig into the chat settings to find it, but now its clearly visible as a standalone button. This means that the agony of having your look being constantly drawn to the chat bar is over. And to wrap things up, Facebook has patched things up with the Skype integration as well, so everything looks to be good.

Samsung just published the video teaser for their Berlin Unpacked event that will take place on the eve, before the IFA 2011 kicks off. The video obviously points at the announcement of a new device and from what we can tell it should be the rumored Android-running I9250.

We certainly hope you have not just spent your hard earned money on a webOS device when reading this. In today third quarter results report, the computer behemoth announced that it "will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones."

According to HP, "The devices have not met internal milestones and financial targets." To put it better in plain language,they did not sell enough webOS devices hardly a surprise given the lack of developed apps for the webOS ecosystem.

The beautifully looking OS might just continue living on in printers or cars entertainment/navigation systems, or get licensed to an interested party. However, as far as mobile devices are concerned, it is all over.

Yahoo is launching an Android based smartphone in Japan on the country third biggest mobile operator, SoftBank.

Yes, as strange as it sounds, Yahoo is launching a phone running Android, an OS made by Yahoo’s biggest competitor in the search engine space. Having said that, Yahoo is a lot more popular in Japan and in fact it is the biggest site in the country.

As for the phone, it will be manufactured by Sharp and will have a 4-inch LCD with qHD resolution, Android 2.3, 8 megapixel camera with a CMOS sensor, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, microSDHC card slot, a built-in digital TV tuner, an e-wallet function and infrared communications.

The phone will come will some of Yahoo apps pre-installed, such as Yahoo Japan Home, Yahoo Japan Auctions, Yahoo Luco, etc. The Yahoo phone will start selling late next month in Japan.

Mobiado has been around for quite some time now, establishing itself among the premier makers of ultra luxury mobile phones. With its latest creation, dubbed Grand Touch, the Canadian company adds, for the first time, an Android device to its portfolio.

As you can probably tell from the picture above, the new Mobiado droid is no other but a Google Nexus S, which has gone through some serious gold treatment. Using the Google phone should give Mobiado a relative edge on the market for ultra premium Android devices, because Tag Heuer and Ulysse Nardin’sofferings are certainly not up to date in the software department.

The Samsung made device has gone through a serious visual transformation including 139 carats of sapphire crystal and 24 carat gold plated body which has been CNC machined. The device buttons are also made from sapphire crystal. You also have the option of having inlayed crystals in the corner facets of the droid, should you decide that it might look too plain.

Vodafone Egypt Facebook Page was hacked earlier this evening, then briefly restored, after which the page disappeared entirely off of the social network.

The image placed as Vodafone Egypt profile picture read, in Arabic,"Destructive hurricane is behind the hacking." A message left by the hackers on the page received 458 comments and 467 likes before the page disappeared.

The hack is most probably a move by Egypt hackers, in retaliation for Vodafone pulling the plug on cell phone service in the country at the height of the uprising. The telecom company has consistently come under fire since then, particularly in the post-revolutionary period, accused of attempting to take credit for the uprising in one of their advertising campaigns.

More recently, their Ramadan campaign in which they encouraged their customers to tweet "Thank yous" to their friends and family, using a Vodafone-specific hashtag, was flooded with tweets criticizing them for what many see as a complicit role in the deaths of Egyptians during the uprising.

A new page has turned up on Facebook, claiming to be Vodafone Egypt new official fan page. The first entry on the wall reads, in Arabic, that the international corporation has made the decision to take over the management of the fan page.

That said, the very first post in English has a grammatical error in it. It reads:

Vodafone UK is pleasured to welcome all Egyptians in their new Vodafone Egypt Official Page on Facebook

The new page has since disappeared from Facebook as well.

Update: Vodafone Egypts's Official Twitter account has released the followin Statement  about the hack:

Here is one for frequent travelers with an iGadget Skype released an app called Skype Wi-Fi, available for all iOS 4.1+ devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch).

What Skype Wi-Fi does is give you access to over a million commercial Wi-Fi hotspots around the world and lets you pay for using them on the go with your Skype Credit. Its good for quick connections to the Internet at odd places, but not so much for all-day usage as you are charged by by the minute.

For example, if you have a layover a some airport and need to check your email Skype Wi-Fi is an easy solution you do not need vouchers or anything, just some Skype Credit. Prices start at $0.06/€0.05 per minute and the app clearly displays how much it costs to use the current hotspot. This weekend (20-21 August) you get an hour of Wi-Fi use for free.

Last week a few bits and pieces of the Samsung smartphone roadmap leaked and now we add more pieces to the puzzle. We just got the expected release dates for most of the smartphones and the two tablets as well as a whole new addition to the Samsung lineup.

Future Android smartphones

Samsung I9250 (W48) - 4.65" SuperAMOLED of HD resolution (1280x720 pixels), Android Ice Cream sandwich, 5 MP camera.

Samsung I9220 (W43) - 4.3-inch Super AMOLED of HD resolution (1280x720 pixels), Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread, 1.4 Ghz dual-core processor, 8-megapixel camera.

Samsung I9210 (W48) - 4.5" WVGA SuperAMOLED, Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread, 4G connectivity, 16 GB of memory, 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi b/g/n, 1750 mAh battery.

Samsung I8150 (W40) - 3.7" WVGA LCD, Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread, 1.4GHz processor, HSDPA, 4GB of memory, microSD support, 5 megapixel camera with 720p video recording, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi, DLNA, GPS and FM radio.

Samsung B5510 (W41) - 2.8" display, Android 2.2.2 Froyo, 800MHz processor, QWERTY keyboard, 3 megapixel camera, FM radio, WiFi.

Samsung S5610 (W42) - 2.4" QVGA display, Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread, 5 megapixel camera, 150 MB storage, HSDPA.

Samsung GT-S5360 (W42) - 3" QVGA screen, Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread, 2 megapixel camera.

Samsung P6200 (W44) - 7" Super AMOLED of SVGA resolution (1024 x 600 pixels), Android Honeycomb, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, 3 megapixel and 2 megapixel cameras.

Samsung P6210 (W44) - Wi-Fi-only version of the P6200.

Yesterday Nokia began uploading the Symbian Anna firmware for the N8 and E7 on its servers. Luckily, it did not stop with those two and the Anna updates for C7 and C6-01 also hit the servers later.

Symbian Anna is available now for download via the official channels - either as an OTA update or through the Ovi Suite. All Nokia N8, E7, C7 and C6-01 qualify for the update no matter the region, carrier or color.

Currently, the Anna updates are rolling out in most of Europe and Asia but its a matter of days before they go worldwide.

Symbian Anna key features:

• Virtual portrait QWERTY for fast, one handed typing
• Split screen view while typing; so you can see message threads, webpages, contacts or email 
• An easier to use and faster browser, delivering quicker page loads and improved navigation 
• Refreshed Nokia Maps including simpler search, new public transportation routes and the ability to check-in to Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare or local social networks
• A feature to share your location via email and SMS

Features for business users:

• Instant messaging and presence with Microsoft Communicator Mobile
• E-mail enhancements including full meeting request support
• True business grade security with hardware  accelerated encryption
• Easy and secure intranet access for business users who want to access their company intranet

Features for developers:

• Flashlite 4
• Java Runtime 2.2
• Qt Mobility 1.1
• Qt4.7

Another mid-range Android smartphone from HTC has leaked and this time it is the familiar looking HTC Pico. The HTC Pico is essentially the Wildfire S underneath a different disguise. This means it has the same 3.2-inch HVGA display, 600MHz processor with 384MB of RAM, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 5 megapixel camera on the back and a 1230mAh Li-Ion battery.

The HTC Pico supports 900/2100MHz 3G bands, which suggests it will not be making an appearance on the American market and is likely to be limited to Europe and Asia. But considering the fact that these markets already have the Wildfire S, we are not quite sure where this model will fit in or in fact, if it is going to be launched at all.

26,691 South Korean iPhone users have filed a class action lawsuit against Apple for alleged privacy violations over the collection of location data. Each of them demands a compensation of 1 million Korean wons ($936) as their handsets violated their privacy by recording their location without their knowledge.

The lawsuit is filed just over a month after the Cupertino-based company was forced to pay the same compensation to a customer of their over the same issues. Mr. Hyung-suk, who won the case back then is actually a lawyer and he and his company have been preparing the class action ever since that initial victory.

Al Jazeera also reminds that the South Korean regulator has undertaken a probe in April to check if the collection of location data from iPhone users violated privacy rules and as a result Apple was fined 3 million won ($2,808).

Nokia N8 has not even received the official Anna update yet, but the most daring of its users are already rewarded with the next Symbian iteration Belle. The files required for flashing Belle on your N8 are already available for download so if you are knowledgeable enough and decide that its worth voiding your warranty you might get it up and running right now.

There’s not much in the way of instructions on how to flash it in the forum thread that lists the download files, but you can find them over here. You would need to apply the Anna update first though, if you have not done so already.

The Belle update itself brings along an updated notifications drawer, a new keyboard and camera UIs and a few other more minor tweaks. You can check it out in action in this video that leaked previously.

Sony had some good news for prospective PS3 buyers at Gamescom yesterday. The five year-old but still going strong console is receiving a healthy $50 price cut, with the new prices being $249 for the 160GB version and $299 for the 320GB version. They have also launched a special edition inFAMOUS 2 bundle that comes with the 320GB model along with the copy of the game and a 30-day PlayStation Plus subscription for $299.

Also announced at that event is a new cut price version of the PSP. The PSP E-1000, as it is called, has a sexy new matte black finish and slightly new design but it loses out on some features to get that new €99.99 (RRP) price. There is now just a single loudspeaker instead of two and no microphone but most importantly, there is no Wi-Fi built-in anymore.

Photos of another upcoming high-end Motorola smartphone leaked today. Dubbed Motorola Droid HD the monster of a smartphone is built around a 4.5" LCD and runs of the latest smartphone-tailored edition of Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

The Motorola Droid HD also features an 8 megapixel main camera, capable of recording 1080p videos, and a front-facing snapper for those video-chats that you love so much.

There is also a microUSB port and an HDMI port on the ultra-slim body. Alas, we do not know yet if the Motorola Droid HD screen will really come with HD resolution (as in 1280 x 720 pixels), or if it settle for the qHD res (960 x 540 pixels) of the Motorola Atrix.

Nokia has uploaded the Symbian Anna firmware for E7 and N8 on its servers and the updates should start rolling out any moment now.

The Symbian community has been waiting for those updates since the announcement of the Symbian Anna back in April. It seems they are finally coming to the E7 and N8 smartphones all over the world.

Nokia has started uploading the Anna firmware updates on its servers for all country, carrier and color-dependent N8 and E7 phones. Whatever version of N8 or E7 you own, I guess its a matter of hours (or days in the worst case scenario) before you get your hands on the official Symbian Anna firmware.

Here we go again. In a move that is hardly going to surprise anyone anymore, HTC has now decided to sue Apple over infringement of their patents and stop the import and sales of the Macintosh, iOS and other devices in the US. This move comes just a day after Google purchase of Motorola Mobility for a staggering $12.5 billion in cash.

HTC has claimed that Apple has infringed three of their patents, two of which HTC had purchased recently and third being their own creation. The patents are mostly regarding wireless technologies. HTC is seeking compensatory damages as well as triple damages for willful infringement.

The good thing about Android is that everyone can have a go at it Fusion Garage are the latest to throw their hat into the ring with a phone, the Grid 4, and a tablet, Grid 10. Both run the so-called Grid OS, which is a deeply customized version of Android. If you have not heard of Fusion Garage before, you are not alone. The tech company is known for the not really successful JooJoo tablet, but their products never really took off.

Fusion Garage Grid 4

The smartphone, the Fusion Garage Grid 4, packs a 4" WVGA TFT screen in a slender 122.4 x 63.9 x 9.6 mm body that weighs 137g. It's powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon, which Fusion Garage oddly calls a dual-core. The smartphone also has 512MB RAM and 16GB of built-in storage.

Other specs on the Grid 4 include quad-band GSM, tri-band 3G (with HSDPA), 5MP camera with LED flash 720p video recording, VGA secondary camera, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS, microSD card slot and 1300mAh battery. The Grid 4 uses microSIMs for a change.

Fusion Garage Grid 10

As for the Fusion Garage Grid 10, its a 10.1" tablet, powered by a Tegra II chipset with a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU and 512MB RAM. The TFT LCD screen has 1366 x 768 pixels resolution.

The Grid 10 runs the same modified Android as the Grid 4. It has Wi-Fi b/g/n connectivity, quad-band 2G/3G (microSIM again), 16GB storage expandable with microSD cards and a docking port.

The Grid 10 measures 274.2 x 173.5 x 13.9mm and weighs 690 g. Prices for the Grid 10 start at $499 for the WiFi-only version and it's $599 for the 3G+WiFi version. Only US pre-orders are accepted right now and it should ship on 15 September.

The Samsung I9210 Celox has, again been caught in the wild sporting the Korean SK Telecom logo on its back. The Celox is a top dog device of the Galaxy S II variety, but will probably sport LTE radio to give unmatched download speeds.

The phone does feature 4 capacitive keys under its display, which is a layout different to what we saw in the previous leak. Back then the home button was a regular tactile feedback key, but obviously the design changed along the way.

Previous rumors suggested that the Celox will also feature a 4.5" SuperAMOLED Plus of WVGA resolution and a dual-core 1.2 GHz Qualcomm APQ8060 CPU. Last but not least, it will run the TouchWiz UI 4.0 on top of Android 2.3 Gingerbread and have an 8 MP snapper on the back to seal the high-end deal.

For the gamers amongst you, Mojang Specifications smash indie title Minecraft should be no stranger to the likes of your mouse and keyboard. With 11,963,015 registered players and 3,144,868 of those playing the paid survival version, they have already amassed a huge following and E3 brought us news that Minecraft would soon be making its way into the mobile world.

Today that news was realized as Minecraft: Pocket Edition has just been launched on the Android Market. Here is what Mojang said about the new title on their blog:

The first version (Alpha 0.1) will focus on the creative aspects of Minecraft. We have tried to put in the features that make sense for playing on a mobile device while still keeping the core of the Minecraft experience. You will be able to select blocks on the touchscreen or just scroll through them with the circle and square buttons on the Xperia Play device. The first version also supports multi-player on a local wireless network allowing you to create a world and invite friends to build together.  Some of the features in this release include:
• Randomized worlds
• Build anything you can imagine
• Build with 36 different kinds of blocks
• Invite and play with friends to your world (local wireless network)
• Save multi-player worlds on your own phone

The title itself is "Xperia PLAY Optimized, meaning that its yours, provided you have an Xperia PLAY. For the rest of us Minecraft fans in the Android camp, we will have to wait. Although there are no announced plans to bring it to other droids anytime soon, chances are, it will not stay an Xperia PLAY exclusive for long, whether that be an official release or a download of the less legitimate variety.

Now that did not last long. The German court has lifted the ban on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 shipments for the rest of the European counties. So as of now, the Korean company is free to resume the shipments of the slate through the rest of Europe.

Previously, Apple got a preliminary injunction, which banned the shipping of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the EU. The Cupertino-based has filed another lawsuit in the Netherlands with a broader reach so it was excluded from their previous court request. The hearing there will be held in mid-September, while the one in the German court will take place on 25 August.

You might be wondering what made the German court change its mind so quickly and you would be amused to know that it has nothing to do with new evidence popping up or any of the sides coming up with new stronger arguments. It turns out that the reason for the U-turn is that someone at the court realized that they do not have the competence to issue EU-wide bans on a company thats not registered in Germany.

Thats why the German branch of Samsung is still prevented from shipping any Galaxy Tab 10.1 units, but its Korean parent company is not.

You have probably heard that Apple managed to block the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 shipments in Europe through a preliminary injunction by a German court. The court decision was made without a hearing and now its up to Apple to prove they have a case.

But Dutch site, Webwerld, has done some investigating and they have discovered that Apple may have tried to bolster their chances of success by manipulating the evidence.

The image above shows the iPad and Galaxy Tab side by side, the image is taken directly from Apple documents submitted to the German court. Its hard to spot at first but thats not how the 10.1-inch model of the Galaxy Tab should look like it should have a wide aspect ratio, noticeably wider than the 4:3 aspect of the iPad.

Its subtle but it makes the Galaxy Tab 10.1 look much closer to the iPad, which supports Apple claims. The image is reportedly taken from an earlier lawsuit and might be of a prototype of the Tab 10.1 rather than an altered image of the retail model. Neither Apple nor Samsung lawyers have offered any comment.

Pics and specifications of two new HTC Android smartphones leaked today. We have got the powerhouse Vigor and the cute little Bliss designed to be a woman best friend.

HTC Vigor name has leaked previously through an image taken with its camera and a benchmark score. But today we have much more information thanks to a Dutch online retailer the first photo of the smartphone itself and a large portion of its specs sheet were brought to light.

As it was previously rumored, HTC Vigor is going to utilize a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor and a 4.3-inch 720p display. There will also be an 8 megapixel snapper at the back that will be doing 1080p video recording. The Vigor will be the first handset in the HTC Beats lineup and is going to run on the latest Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread skinned with the latest HTC Sense 3.5 UI .

Now lets talk about the HTC Bliss. It is a long rumored smartphone that HTC is preparing with the ladies needs in mind. It should be a small cute device running on a single-core 800MHz processor and probably featuring a 3.something-inch display and a mid-range camera (5 megapixel or so).

Today has surely been one busy day for the folks at Motorola Mobility. Shortly after their company acquisition by Google became news, they found some extra time to announce their latest droid in their already colorful lineup the Motorola Defy+.

As the name of the device suggests, the Motorola Defy+ is closely related to the original Motorola Defy, which we came to know well. This time however, the device got a number of updated features, which are bound to keep it attractive throughout 2011.

The most notable changes in the Motorola Defy+ are the new 1GHz CPU, Android latest Gingerbread 2.3 OS, and a larger 1700mAh battery. Interestingly enough, the Google OS is still dressed in MOTOBLUR.

The device has gotten even tougher than its predecessor and can prove it by a certification for covering the IP67 water, dust, scratch, and drop resistance standards. In plain language, this means that the device will handle any normal daily use and abuse without breaking any sweat. How far it can go in this department, we are yet to see.

We just got the release dates of probably the two hottest devices to hit T-Mobile this year. Samsung Hercules and HTC Ruby leaked numerous times in the past few weeks, but only we get an estimate on their potential availability. A leaked T-Mobile presentation revealed that both Android smartphones are coming on 26 October.

Samsung Hercules is actually the T-Mobile US version of the Galaxy S II. The Hercules should be based on the same hardware as the international Galaxy S II, but it will reportedly come with a bigger 4.5" Super AMOLED Plus screen, NFC capabilities and 42Mbps HSPA+ .

HTC Ruby sounds a lot like the upcoming HTC Vigor sporting a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor and a 4.3-inch display, but it is rumored to have qHD resolution rather than HD . The rest of the specs we know so far are the 8 megapixel rear and the 2 megapixel front cameras, 1GB RAM, Bluetooth 3.0 and category 24 HSDPA support.

Both HTC Ruby and Samsung Hercules are running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread and will come with the companies latest UI customizations Sense and TouchWiz.

The popular MIUI ROM for Android has found its own home the Xiaomi Phone. Its a cheap droid ($310/€215 reportedly) with killer specs, made by Foxconn.

The Xiaomi Phone packs stunning amounts of power for its price a Qualcomm 8260 Snapdragon chipset with a dual-core 1.5GHz CPU, Adreno 220 graphics and 1GB of RAM. The battery packs plenty of juice, 1930mAh to be precise. That should be enough for two days of real life usage. The screen is a Sharp-made 4" LCD of FWVGA resolution (480 x 854 pixels) and the phone measures 125mm x 63mm x 11.9mm, weighing 149g. It packs a dual GSM/3G antenna to avoid any embarrassing death grip issues.

The specs go on: 8MP main camera, customizable MI button, both A-GPS and Glonass (The Russian alternative to GPS), Wi-Fi b/g/n, 4GB ROM, microSD card slot for cards up to 32GB and interchangeable back covers (7 available at launch with more to come).

HTC has enabled the process of unlocking the boot loader on some of their phones and the first one to benefit from this change of heart is the HTC Sensation.

HTC developer website gives all the instructions as to how you can go about the process of unlocking the boot loader on your Sensation. It also offers a healthy dose of warnings and information regarding what all could go wrong should you choose to unlock the boot loader, which includes the chance of your warranty getting void if the damage to device resulted due to the unlocking.

Currently only the global unlocked version of the Sensation can be unlocked whereas the Sensation 4Gfor T-Mobile and the EVO 3D for Sprint will have to wait a while.

Just in case you are wondering what a boot loader is its a program that loads the operating system programs and data into the RAM when the device boots up. Previously, HTC phones had the boot loader unlocked that made them popular among the Android modder community but they recently started locking it to, just like Motorola always has. However, you need to have an unlocked boot loader in order to flash the device with a custom ROM. This is something not every company approves of, which is the reason for locking the boot loader.

Steve Kondik, the man behind the CyanogenMod team that makes custom ROMs for Android smartphones, has joined Samsung Mobile as a software engineer.

This information comes courtesy his Facebook profile where he recently changed his employer to 'Samsung Mobile'. Steve informed everyone that his side project CyanogenMod is not affiliated in any way with Samsung Mobile and thus development is likely to continue.

Yet another piece of information regarding the HTC Ruby has been gleaned and this time it is the juicy hardware specs. If you have been keeping up with our updates on the phone, you will know by now that the HTC Ruby is an Android-based smartphone heading to T-Mobile, which was first spotted giving a sneak peak of its rear and later on showing its full face for the camera.

According to TmoNews, the HTC Ruby will have a dual-core 1.5GHz processor and a 4.3-inch, qHD display. Its also expected to have 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth 3.0 and a dedicated camera and video recording button for the 8 megapixel camera on the back and 2 megapixel on the front.

These specs debunk our original theory that the Ruby is a mid-range device and makes it more of a high-end phone. This phone, along with the Samsung Hercules, means that T-Mobile customers are in for a treat in the coming months.

The Asus Eee Pad Slider was a cool Android tablet/netbook announced at CES 2011, along with the Transformer, but unlike its super-popular relative its nowhere to be seen just yet. However the latest bit of online rumor suggests that it might become available before the end of September for the tempting €479.

For that kind of cash you are getting a 10.1 IPS display of WXGA resolution (1280×800 pixels), covered under a layer of Gorilla Glass, an Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset, featuring a couple of 1GHz CPU cores, and a QWERTY keyboard for all that typing to be done on.

There is also 16GB of onboard storage and one year unlimited web storage provided by Asus as well as a couple of cameras to sweeten the deal. The Asus Eee Pad Slider will also have a version with 32 GB of local storage, but that takes the price to €599, which does not seem as such a good bargain.

Rejoice, RIM fans Vodafone UK has the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 in stock and is offering it for free on a two-year contract.£

After series of rumors about the market availability of the Bold 9900, a few weeks ago we were able to confirm the Bold Touch 9900 release time frame between the middle and the end of August.

And Vodafone UK managed to deliver the BlackBerry smartphone on the first day of the expected time frame. The rest of the UK carries are going to offer it very soon, too.

So, if you live in the UK and want the Bold 9900 today, just go to a Vodafone store and you can have it for free with a two-year contract on a £41/month tariff.

Nokia shares jumped over 10 percent today (from €3.70 up to €4.09) after the news about Google acquiring Motorola Mobility. All this boosted the speculations that Nokia is being once again targeted for a takeover.

Nokia hasn’t been doing all that well recently with their shares down by 45 percent just this year, due to the poor financial results of the Finnish company. This has reduced the price and has made Nokia easier to acquire by companies such as Microsoft and Samsung.

Similar to Motorola, Nokia is a company with huge experience in the mobile phone field and possesses an extremely rich patent portfolio, which is becoming more and more valuable with all the infringement lawsuits lately.

Another month, another version of Firefox. I guess we better get used to this new faster release cycle that Mozilla has adopted for Firefox. Version 6 of the second most popular desktop browser in the world has just been made available for download on Mozilla FTP servers ahead of its scheduled launch three days from now.

Visible changes in the newer version are minimal, with the only one being reported for now as the domain name getting highlighted in the address bar. We wonder as to whether such minor changes really warrant a change in the version number but again thats for Mozilla to decide.

The Nokia N9 is the first MeeGo handset to launch out of the Finish giant and the world seems to just cannot get enough of it. And today we have some great news for you despite Nokia's claims the N9 has FM radio receiver and an FM Transmitter in its premium-quality plastic body.

So while the Nokia N9 specs sheet claims that the smartphone has no FM radio, let alone FM transmitter the hardware is actually there. That was confirmed by no other than Nokia itself on one of its developer websites.

However, there is no software support for either of those and the Finns chose not to include it in the N9 specs sheet so no one got confused. Plus the FM transmitter might turn out to be totally unusable.

Yet, we are confident that the software issues will be dealt with eventually and the N9 will be getting FM radio functionality. The developer website says that its not possible to control the receiver using Qt Mobility API so we would need a native app, but that should not be that much of a problem, really.

Now the discouraging part of is a line on the same website saying that "there is not a way for the phone to access the transmitter as the device has not got a transmission antenna". Now we are not 100% sure, but we but we suspect that the transmitter only has a controlling chip and no antenna, which might make enabling it impossible.

A prototype version of the HTC Holiday was spotted being sold on Craigslist. The pictures you see below have been taken by someone who purchased the device, according to a thread on XDA forums.

This particular HTC Holiday has seen better days and is currently flaunting battle scars all over the front but seems to be functional nonetheless. From the on-screen menu we can see that the device is running on a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 4.5-inch qHD display, 8 megapixel camera on the back and a 1.3 megapixel camera on the front. The phone also supports Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0.

The design looks slightly similar to that of the HTC Incredible S. The Holiday has tapered edges and we can spot the volume rocker on the right sans a camera shutter button and what could be the micro-USB port on the left. The back has the camera lens with dual LED flash and what looks like charging port near the bottom.

Google has announced its going to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion ($40 per share). The Mountain View-based company plans to use Motorola rich patent portfolio to help its Android platform in the numerous legal battles it's currently fighting, while Motorola itself should continue to function as before.

The first thing that should be noted is Motorola Mobility is not the entire Motorola. You might remember that the company split in two in January 2010 - Motorola Solution and Motorola Mobility.

So, Google is buying Motorola mobile division responsible for smartphones and tablets. The reson for the move is quite simple to defend Android in the ongoing patent war.

A few days ago Google explained that Microsoft, Apple and other corporations are working together to acquire important patents before Google so they can get licensing fees of up to $15 from the manufacturers for each Android device sold.

So, now that Google owns Motorola it is in a much better position to offer assistance to its partners in their court struggles. After all, Motorola is one of the companies with the largest patent portfolios in business and we are led to believe the whole Android community will have access to it once the deal is done.

HTC Kept her promise and Unlocked the Bootloaders, Starting with the latest flagship Android Device HTC Sensation as HTC has released an unlock process from HTCDev.com,Other devices will be unlocked soon. the Official Statement from HTC Said:

"Thanks so much for providing feedback, we hear your concerns. Your satisfaction is a top priority for us and we're working hard to ensure you have great experiences with our phones. We're reviewing the issue and our policy around bootloaders and will provide more information soon. Thank you for your interest, support and willingness to share your feedback."

Source

Sprint and McAfee are teaming-up to provide Sprint Android customers with an easy access to McAfee Mobile Security and McAfee Family Protection software, which protect users important information from loss, theft and viruses. Additionally, McAfee Family Protection Android Edition allows parents to filter inappropriate websites on their child mobile device.

As part of the deal, a McAfee icon will be promptly placed within the Sprint Zone and inside the Sprint Tab in the Android Market.

The McAfee Mobile Security software is available as a seven-day trial and can be purchased as a 12-month subscription for $29.99, while the McAfee Family Protection Android Edition comes with a 30-day trial and can be purchased as a 12-month subscription for $19.99.

Windows Phone 7 Mango was released to manufacturers about three weeks ago and it seems that testing is going well. Sources now claim that the first major update for Microsoft new mobile OS is going to become publicly available on 1 September.

The first big update for WP7 was NoDo and its roll out was not as smooth as Microsoft would have liked, despite releasing a very minor update first that was supposed to set the ground for NoDo. Hopefully, this time everyone has done their job as the rumored 1 September deadline is approaching fast. Its a well picked time for an update, just in time for IFA, which will have major manufacturers gathered and showing their new devices.

Nokia should also be releasing their first and most likely only for this year Windows Phone 7 handset in October. The phone should launch with Mango, but there is talk Nokia might be getting a special version aimed at lower-end WP7 called Tango.

UberMusic is a music player inspired by the Metro UI and Zune Player for Windows Phone 7, and it is the most gorgeous music player you will find in the Android Market. It mimics the Zune player even in the animations. This skinnable music player, made by the same developer of LauncherPro, is gaining fast popularity in the Android Market in less than a week out of beta its already sold almost 10,000 copies of. Lets see why this app is growing so fast.

Features

Skins

The first thing that got my attention was the ability to install skins. One of the key features to an Android phone is the possibility to give your own look to your phone, and as I am a musician and totally addicted to music, another great thing to have in my phone is a good music player.

Default skin and Metro skin

You can give the app the look you want to, and although its only recently been released, there are already some great skins available. The app itself has an already styled skin thats really cool not as cool as the Metro Skin, but still keeping the feeling of the Windows Phone 7 music player.

User Interface

The UI of UberMusic is like a clone of the WP7 music player. It even mimics the animations and the super smooth scrolling it has. I believe the Metro UI of Windows Phone 7 is one of the most beautiful UIs ever designed, and UberMusic takes this same attitude to heart.

If you swipe as the player starts, it will softly change to the next tab, out of (by default):

• Artists
• Albums
• Songs
• Playlists
• Genres
• Folders

Sort by letter

When you are on an artist’s tab, it will download a picture of the artist in question and used it as the background. Another great feature is that it downloads the biography of the artist and shows it in another tab inside the artist tab.

Artist Bio's tab

 

Now playing screen and the notification bar

Scrobbling and Shuffling

As with most music players, UberMusic has the option of scrobbling your listened songs to Last.fm, either through the Last.fm app or through ScrobbleDroid/SLS.

Also, UberMusic uses a true shuffling system that never repeats the songs you already listened till the playlist has played all songs. To activate the shuffle, you just tap the cover art of the playing song and then select the shuffle symbol; you can also select the repeat mode through the same interface.

 

Widgets and Wallpaper

This wonderful music player comes with 6 widgets in different sizes, and these, too, are skinnable. The skin may be just for the widget or it may come together with the player skin you have downloaded itself. Even without any skin, it is already beautiful, with a semi-transparent background and the controller buttons, alongside cover art for the song.

 

4x4 Widget

 

But what really impressed me is the UberMusic live wallpaper. I thought it was just another slide show or something, but its actually a really beautiful display of cover art, all in the same screen, with a gorgeous animation that flips the covers, just like Windows Phone 7 does with its Tiles.

 

Live Wallpaper Animation

Download (Android Appstore)

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Ever wondered whats the logic behind various Samsung Galaxy models? While we still do not have the complete answer like where Galaxy Ace and Mini fit into the scheme picture above we do start to get the idea behind the Korean giant thinking.

As you can see for yourself, the S devices will keep their top-of-the-line status and will be followed by smartphones wearing R, W, M and Y marks:

• R – stands for Premium devices that are "Royal" and "Refined" like the Galaxy R
• W – is for high-tier "Wonder" phones
• M – "Magical" mid-tier devices which deliver solid value for the money, and
• Y – for entry-level phones catered toward young users

And thats not all. Some of the models will also get additional indicators, like:

• Plus – for bumped up specs like the Galaxy S Plus, and
• Pro – for QWERTY phones

Nimbuzz has updated its Android application with push notifications, allowing users to keep up with their buddies even when Nimbuzz is not running. And thats just one of the benefits users get with this feature the phone battery will also last longer as the application will not be pinging Nimbuzz servers all the time.

The new message delivery notifications will display 1 check mark when your message was successfully delivered to the Nimbuzz servers, and 2 check marks when your message was successfully delivered to the person you are chatting with.

To enable push notification, go to "Settings" -> "Notifications" -> "Enable," and you are done. Finally, the new 2.0.8 version comes also with a little feature called Synchronize with device which once started will show all of your Nimbuzz friends in the phone contact list and enable you to start a chat or a call a person from there.

In a deal estimated at $300 million, HTC have joined up with Beats by Dr Dre to 'introduce a new era in mobile audio'. Big words from a confident Taiwanese company, but they have fair reason to be.

In a press release posted earlier this week, HTC announced that in a new partnership between HTC and Beats Electronics LLC, the two companies have been working together "to create superior mobile audio experiences for consumers, which will result in a line of HTC devices integrated with Beats sound innovations, available this fall".

The audiophiles amongst you will know that in recent years Beats audio have quickly grown in popularity, backed by famous rapper and producer Dr Dre. The company have distinguished themselves with popular artist branded products including, 'Heartbeats' by Lady Gaga, Diddybeats by P.Diddy and 'Justbeats' by Justin Bieber. Apple Stores now use Beats headphones on many of their demo models and the brand has become well known for its bass-centric, high quality headphones.

The Beats brand has extended its reach with HP laptops featuring Beats audio, but HTC are the first mobile manufacturer to pair with the brand. The partnership aims to give HTC phones the edge in mobile audio, assumedly taking on the likes of Sony Ericsson Walkman phones. Another obvious example of a premium audio company which joined forces with a mobile manufacturer was back in the creation of the Samsung Serene in 2005 and its successor the Serenata in 2007, but these were specialist devices, unlike the partnership we see here.

The HTC Wildfire S has just arrived on the T-Mobile USA shelves. The compact mid-range droid can be yours for free, thanks to an instant $200 discount and a web-only $79.99 discount, which does not apply in brick and mortar stores.

Of course you will have to commit to a new two-year contract with T-Mobile to get the Wildfire S for nothing, but that is to be expected. You can get the phone from T-Mobile’s official site or from Walmart Wireless.

The Wildfire S is a 2.3 Android Gingerbread device with a 5 MP camera, 3.2-inch display with an HTC Sense UI topping and more. If you are interested in the more part you could look up our review of the little droid.

Samsung Mobile is holding an event in New York on Monday, August 29 for a product announcement, for which they have sent out invites for the media.

Although the invite does not specify which product will be launched all clues point to the fact that it will be the Galaxy S II. First is the fact that the invite image has Galaxy S II in the name and then there is the large "II" in the image as can be seen above. Its possible that the phone will be launched on multiple carriers simultaneously. Whatever it is, we will keep you informed about it.

Now that the BlackBerry 9900 and 9810 have been out in Canada for a few days, there has been some confusion about app memory on the device. Its advertised to have 768 MB of RAM, but there is only 189 MB of memory available for applications, which is entirely separate from the on-board storage and the microSD memory card. 189 MB does not seem like a lot, especially if you’re used to bigger apps on Android and iPhone

"The 189 MB of free space refers to the application memory space, an area carved out of the eMMC where all the usual security checks are put in for apps i.e. this is the space to which actual application COD files are installed.   Practically speaking, if you look through the App World catalogue, you will find that few apps exceed 2 MB in size and most are less than 1 MB in size.  On BlackBerry, most apps simply don’t need much space.  If you take Foursquare as an example, the app on BlackBerry is 790 KB where its at least triple that size on other major platforms, and arguably, with a richer feature set on BlackBerry.

The maximum size for an app is theoretically about 14-16 MB (7-8 MB of code, 7-8 MB of additional data [could be images, audio files, etc… basically, anything that is not Java code]).  This is documented here: https://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/Testing-and-Deployment/The-maximum-size-of-a-BlackBerry-smartphone-application/ta-p/502534

The only argument for larger memory space is 3D games.  But, per the max app size limit, 7 MB for data is too small for them anyway (many games have 50 MB or more of images, textures, audio, etc).  You could go beyond that 7 MB data limit via a series of libraries, but then you are starting to take a large chunk out of that 189 MB.  As such, for full featured 3D titles like 3D Roller Coaster Rush Jurassic 2, we worked with the vendor to download the game data separate from the COD files for the game logic.  More specifically, from App World, the user will be able to download the COD files for the app, which make up the core game logic.  This download is only a few MBs in size / only consumes a very small portion of the user available application memory.  When running the game for the first time, the game will then download all the rest of its game files, be it images, textures, audio, or whatever else.  This download is done in a manner that is cost-sensitive to the user data plan, using WiFi only, which is especially relevant for users who are not on unlimited data plans or for users who live in regions where data rates are such that 50 MB downloads over carrier networks are not practical.  The downloaded game files are then saved to the user regular media storage, allowing the app to be as graphically rich as it wishes, without negatively impacting the user available application memory space."

Games are one of the biggest time-wasters on Facebook and now Google has announced that they have added a Games section to their Google+ social network. Unlike Facebook however, gamer-related messages in Google+ will not spam your stream.

A Games tab should appear in your Google+ page, just like there are tabs for Home, Photos, Profile and Circles. Ones there, you will see game updates and invites from people in your circles and check out what games they’ve played recently. Those updates do not show up in your regular stream, only in the Games tab, which avoids clutter.

The games update is rolling out right now, so its not available for everyone. It should be soon though.

THis Comparison is not Actually True as iPhone 5 may have more specs than in the Above but its a good speculation if you ask me as apple will not give you all of its technology at once in one phone, Also Note that the phone may also be called the iPhone4s not 5 as for 3G and 3Gs.

There are an array of different screen technologies out their vying for superiority in a crowded device world. Of course with displays its having the right tool for the job; a low power, high legibility e-ink screen suits the Kindle’s purpose, where as a super high-res, high pixel density HAST LCD would feel right at home on the latest entertainment-centric tab.

Now Sony send another contender into the display-fray, their next generation LCD technology announced under the name, WhiteMagic. Sony 3 inch WhiteMagic TFT LCD’s promise 1.23M-dot full VGA resolution, but where they really stand out is their dual-mode design. In "low power mode" the 3 inch WhiteMagic LCD runs at 50% brightness and uses 125mW, this, Sony say, is similar to typical LCD of the current generation.

The alternative side to this technology is outdoors mode. In this mode the display brightness gets a huge boost from 470 nits up to a blinding 1,000 nits, but power consumption only reaches 300mW which is more on par with current gen displays.

The device that was too big for a phone and too small to be a tablet has finally been put to rest. Dell website informs anyone still interested in the now deceased Streak 5 about its departure.

Unfortunately, I cannot find myself to agree with the "Its been a great ride" part about the message on the website and Dell has itself to blame. Right from the confused form-factor to the outdated software and the high price, the Streak 5 was a recipe for disaster and Dell could have surely done better. If only they knew what they wanted it to be, a smartphone or a tablet.

Anyway, its not right to speak ill of the dead. You can visit the website in the link below to pay your last respects. Or, you know, buy something else.

Gartner released their report on the mobile phone world in the second quarter and have something very interesting in their numbers Nokia is sill number one in smartphones, rather than third as other analysts have stated.

The difference comes from which numbers are taken into account others counted the number of units shipped and not the number of units purchased by end users, which is exactly what Gartner was looking at.

Still, Nokia will not be on top for much longer and Symbian is already well behind Android, with only half the market share of the Google OS. Roles were reversed just a year ago, in Q2 2010, but Android's rise has put it well ahead of the competition now. Of course, "Android" is used by a number of manufacturers, while Symbian phones are made only by Nokia.

Numbers for Q2 2011 show that iOS will soon overtake Symbian too, having already went past BlackBerry OS. Meanwhile, Bada OS has more market share than the Windows Mobile/Phone OSes, but neither are anywhere close to the big players.

In terms of overall market share, not just smartphones Nokia maintains a diminishing lead, but Samsung and LG (who hold second and third place respectively) both have slipped in market share.

Vendor	2Q11  Units	2Q11 Market Share (%)	2Q10  Units	2Q10 Market Share (%)
Nokia	97,869.3	22.8	111,473.7	30.3
Samsung	69,827.6	16.3	65,328.2	17.8
LG	24,420.8	Tags:   European HTC Sensation gets Gingerbread 2.3.4 OTA update, Egypt is Next! 12 August, 2011 HTC   The European HTC Sensation units have just started receiving their 2.3.4 update over-the-air. HTC did not say anything about it, but reports from all ends of the continent started coming in, saying that the update is already rolling.   The update brings video-calling functionality via Google Talk and regular mobile video-calls. Some bug fixes and performance improvements are also promised, but nothing too major, as you could imagine. So far only unlocked Sensation units have been getting the update and also we got some reports that Egyptain Sensation is a the same as European version so it may Get Update so soon. Lets hope they will not be too late to the party, though.   Tags:   FAKE Photos of the iPhone 5 apple website Page, looks cool (Video) 12 August, 2011 Apple   We came across a really good fake video of the Apple Germany website, detailing the iPhone 5. Someone really gave their all when creating this one. It details everything from the new design, the new dual-core A5 chip, better 8 MP camera with FullHD video recording and the bigger display.       The video is obviously fake you can bet your good money on that fact and I have prepared the proof thats needed. Still its pretty well made and makes for a good rumor roundup so checking it out is worth it.     Video Below!   Tags:   Ice Cream Sandwich screenshots leaked on a samsung Nexus S 12 August, 2011 Samsung Screenshots of Ice Cream Sandwich, Google next mobile operating system have been leaked. Both the sources guarantee the authenticity of the images and any resemblance to older version of Android has been put down to the fact that it is still a work in progress. As you can see from the homescreen image above, both the notification tray and the dock have been revamped. The color scheme in Ice Cream Sandwich is teal instead of the radioactive green color seen in Gingerbread and dark blue in Honeycomb. The new dock is now clear and features four icons by default. The application drawer has been pushed to the left and on the extreme right we can see what appears to be a stack of icons. You can also see honeycomb-style Google search option in the top left of the display. The wallpaper and the power widget are both from the previous version of Android. In the second screenshot, we can see that the Android version is simply listed as "IceCreamSandwich" instead of a number, which suggests Google still has not made up their mind regarding that. One thing that struck as odd to us is that on the Nexus S running Gingerbread, everything below the Legal Information option in the About phone menu is grayed out but that’s not the case in this screenshot. Other changes that have been found (not pictures here) are: Updated icons for some apps (they are mostly blue now) Panorama mode in camera Redesigned Gmail app Application tray now lets you switch between apps and widgets Revamped notification tray     Tags:   Apple holding the iPhone event on 7 September to announce the iPhone5 12 August, 2011 Apple   Rumor suggests that the annual Fall event, held by Apple, will take place on 7 September this year. This is the event usually dedicated to the refresh of the iPod series, but should this year also see the announcement of the next iPhone and possibly a new iPad. The scoop comes from Japanese website KODAWARISAN and they say that the information is legit, coming from some kind of an inside source. In previous years Apple held their Fall events on 09.09.08, 09.09.09 and 01.09.10. If a new iPhone does make it to the scene it could become available as soon as later next month or in early October. With so many rumors about the iPhone 5 (4S) there is a strong chance that certain features will not make it to the final product. But we could see some that we haven’t even thought of. As for the iPad the chances seem slim, but it is not impossible. We’ll see as there’s now less than a month till then.     Tags:   Windows Phone Mango coming Sept. 1 11 August, 2011 Windows Phone 7   We all know that Windows Phone Mango is coming this Fall but a new report from Pocket Lint suggests that it will officially roll out beginning Sept. 1, just in time for the IFA tradeshow.   Pocket Lint does not name its sources but they have been pretty reliable in the past and the time frame does make a lot of sense, as the IFA trade show will enable handset makers like HTC, Samsung and others to show off the next generation of devices. Microsoft also first showed off elements of Windows Phone Mango way back in February at Mobile World Congress, so it has had enough time in the oven.   If you forgot, Windows Phone Mango will include many improvements to the platform which could make it on par with iOS and Android including deep integration with Twitter, full third-party multitasking, deeper hooks into the SkyDrive cloud storage service and multiple tools which will let developers make better apps.   Tags:   iOS 5 beta 5 jailbroken still only tethered and does not support iPad 2 11 August, 2011 Apple   The iOS 5 beta 5 was released last week and just got its jailbreak via Redsn0w 0.9.8b5. The jailbreak is again only a tethered one and still doesn’t support iPad 2.   If you are running an iPhone or iPod Touch with the beta iOS 5 you can install this jailbreak but keep in mind that its intended for devs to test so even though it has more features it does not work as well as the current iOS version. Some jailbroken apps and tweeks aren’t supported for one and performance is hardly the smoothest yet.   Tags:   Samsung Galaxy Xcover is one sweet-looking rugged droid 11 August, 2011 Samsung   Samsung has just unveiled the latest addition to their Xcover lineup of rugged phones and it is by far the most exciting to date. The Samsung Galaxy Xcover is an Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone with IP67 standard certification, meaning its fully dust and water resistant, and it's also shock resistant so you will not need to worry about dropping it. The Xcover series by Samsung have so far been only dumb phones with next to no functionality outside calling and texting, but this latest unit runs Android and aims to challenge the Motorola Defy and the Sony Ericsson Xperia Active.   We do not have the full specs sheet yet, but we can confirm that the Samsung Galaxy Xcover has a 3.2 MP camera with LED flash that doubles as a flashlight, Wi-Fi, GPS, HSDPA up to 7.2Mbps and, finally, a 3.65" scratch-resistant display of tempered glass. Oh, and the phone can stay as deep as 1 meter under water for 30 minutes.   Tags:   Nokia N9 not coming to the US and the UK 11 August, 2011 Nokia N9   In a move that is going to break the hearts of a lot of people, Nokia has decided against launching the Nokia N9 in the US as well as the UK. The company was contacted by Engadget and The Inquirer regarding the availability in the US and UK respectively and in both the cases they were met with a negative response. Although Nokia is delighted with the positive response the N9 has received from everyone they also made it clear that they currently have no plans for launching the N9 in these markets.   Tags:   Samsung to release 7 new droids, 2 tablets and 2 Bada phones in Upcoming Months 11 August, 2011 Android As far as leaks go, they do not get much bigger than this. We just found specs sheets of no less than 9 upcoming Samsung smartphones and two tablets. The scoop includes the 7 new Android devices, two 7" Honeycomb tablets and finally two new Bada smartphones, one of which will be packing a 4" SuperAMOLED. The droids are: The Samsung I9250 is the most interesting of the bunch. Sitting on the fence between smartphones and tablets, it features a 4.65" SuperAMOLED of HD resolution 1280x720, a 5 MP camera and runs on Android Ice Cream. This will probably be Samsung first droid featuring the yet unreleased version of the Google OS. Samsung I9220 will make do with Gingerbread 2.3.3 and a 4.3" SuperAMOLED with the rumored 1280x720 (thats HD again) resolution, a 1.4 Ghz dual-core processor and an 8 MP camera. It's certainly another one worth keeping an eye on. Samsung I9210 comes next with its Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread OS, a 4.5" WVGA SuperAMOLED and 4G support. This is probably the Celox that leaked a couple of days ago. The I9210 has 16 GB of internal storage, 8 MP snapper with a LED flash on the back and a 2 MP front-facing camera on the front. GPS and Wi-Fi are covered as well as Bluetooth 3.0 and finally a 1750 mAh battery. After this trio the Samsung I8150 is looking quite uninspiring with its 3.7" WVGA (480x800) TFT display, HSDPA support, 4 gigs worth of internal storage and a 1.4 Ghz single-core processor. However, with its Android 2.3.3. Gingerbread OS, microSD card slot and a 5 MP snapper with 720p video recording it makes up for one decently looking mid-range device. Then we move into low-end territory with the Samsung B5510. The smartphone will reportedly come with a 2.8" display, and will run Android 2.2.2 Froyo. Its CPU will be clocked to 800 Mhz processor and heavy texters will appreciate it for its physical QWERTY keyboard. The rest of the Samsung B5510 specs that have been unveiled including a 3 MP snapper, FM-radio, Wi-Fi and GPS. We are back on the Gingerbread train with the Samsung S5360 and Samsung S5610. The decidedly entry-level duo comes with QVGA (240x320 pixels) displays - the unit on the S5360 measures 3" in diagonal, while the S5610 only has a 2.4" screen. However the S5610 leads in the camera department, where it offers 5 megapixel stills to the S5360 2 megapixel shots. Connectivity-wise, though, both should be doing well with GPS, Wi-Fi and HSDPA on board. The story of the leaked tablets is much shorter. First, we haveve got the Samsung P6200 7-incher with Android Honeycomb, a SuperAMOLED 1024x600 display, 3 MP and 2 MP cameras (back and front) and HSDPA support. The other tablet is the Samsung P6210, which is basically the same kind of deal, but with Wi-Fi support only. The Bada 2.0-running Samsung S5380 has a 3.2" display, Bluetooth 3.0, a 2 MP snapper, while theSamsung S8600 Wave III will come with a 4" SuperAMOLED display, a 5 MP camera, Bluetooth 3.0 and 3 GB of internal storage.   Tags:   HTC to Build a New Music Phone with Dr.Dre 11 August, 2011 HTC HTC Official Facebook Page has just published a photo of Peter Chou, CEO HTC, Jimmy Iovine, Chairman of Beats by Dr. Dre and Chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, and Dr. Dre himself with a tiltle "Lets Get to Work", After digging more on the story of this Photo I found out that may be this photo is saying that HTC is intend to releae a Music Phone for all music fans around the Globe like the Nokia Xpress Music series and Samsung Galaxy player. No info about the device OS or what this device specs will be but If you are a Music fan and Love HTC Devices its Your Lucky Day!   Source (HTC FB)   Tags:   Google pushing Ice Cream Sandwich release up to October 10 August, 2011 Android Getting a bit sick of those endless helpings of Gingerbread and Honeycomb being forced down our throats in the mobile market right now?   Well, it looks like Google may be preparing to launch the next version of Android Ice Cream Sandwich sooner than we thought.   From what we know so far ICS is set to be a pivotal release for the Android platform, as its likely to bring the divergent smartphone and tablet strains of Google mobile OS back into a single line.   And according to BGR sources, Google is looking to push its introduction forward to as early as October in an attempt to cover off Apple iPhone 5 launch the reason being it does not want customers coming out of contracts and being faced with a choice between a nice shiny new iPhone 5 and yet another variation on the existing Gingerbread theme.   Plausible thinking, we have to say, though it may be a brave move to plan your entire strategy on the movements of your chief rival. Especially when its abundantly clear that few people outside of the Apple inner circle have any clear fix on just what the next-gen handset will offer.   Tags:   German court blocks shipments of Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Europe 10 August, 2011 Samsung The patent struggle between Apple and Samsung is really heating up after the initial victory for Apple that prevented Samsung from launching the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia, now a second Apple victory will prevent Samsung from selling the Tab 10.1 in Europe.   This is a preliminary injunction, which will last until the German court reaches a decision. Galaxy Tab 10.1 units that have already been shipped to stores will sell normally but there won't be resupplies until this is finished. Samsung may also have to pay a fine of €250,000 for each violation.   Tab 10.1 will sell freely in the Netherlands for now. Samsung and Apple are in the process of suing each other in Dutch court too.   Samsung assured that the decision of the German court won't affect the proceedings in other courts. If courts end up ruling in Samsung's favor, Apple will have to pay damages to Samsung over lost business.   Tags:   First Image and Video of the Upcoming Nokia WP7 (Video) 10 August, 2011 Nokia WP7   The Nokia Sea Ray may be expecting company a leaked promo video shows off what is supposedly a Nokia phone powered by Windows Phone 7 and it looks different than the Sea Ray. Of course, it could be fake  or it could be some internal promo video.     Remember the first images of Nokia WP7 phone that turned out to be nothing but mockups? The video shows two models, one of which looks almost exactly like the mockups that leaked originally. The other model however is different from those and from the Sea Ray.   And even if it is from Nokia, we ca not be sure if its an actual device rather than a generic mockup for a promo video. The ending of the clip, which shows a futuristic device that is obviously intended for promo purposes only gives some weight to the second option.   Video Below!   Tags:   LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy S II Celox 9 August, 2011 Samsung A leaked image and some specs of an upcoming Galaxy S II smartphone carrying an LTE radio was anounced today. The information originates from Korea claims that the smartphone codename is Celox. And the LTE radio (100Mbps/50Mbps downlink and uplink) w ill not be the only thing that set the Celox apart from its mortal Galaxy S II sibling. According to the rumor, the new smartphone should be based on the Qualcomm APQ8060 chipset, which features a dual-core 1.2GHz processor. The Celox should also have a larger, 4.5-inch , WVGA SuperAMOLED Plus display and a 1750mAh battery. The rest of the specs should be similar or identical to those of the regular Galaxy S II 8MP camera, TouchWiz 4.0, Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread and so on. As far as the styling is concerned, the Celox looks like a mixture between the I9103 Galaxy R and the I9100 Galaxy S II.       Tags:   AMD unleashes Radeon-branded DDR3 memory in different versions 9 August, 2011 Technology   This one is for AMD fans Radeon-branded, AMD-manufactured DDR3 RAM modules. They will come in three flavors, but all share the same capacity 2GB. The differences are in clock speed and timings. The three flavors are Entertainment, ULTRA PRO Gaming and Enterprise. The Entertainment line is clocked at 1333MHz (9-9-9 timings), while the ULTRA PRO Gaming goes at 1600MHz (11-11-11).The numbers for server-oriented Enterprise series are still TBD. All three come in standard DIMM format for desktops. Pricing for the three series is not officially announced, but Canadian web shot NCIX already has the AMD Radeon Entertainment DDR3 modules for CAD$10 (10 US dollars) after a CAD$10 rebate. Even without the rebate, thats quite a good price for 2GB/1333MHz RAM. There is no info on when the other two Radeon memory flavors will show up in shops or how much they will cost.   Tags:   Sprint upcoming droid names leaks: Samsung Epic 4G Touch 9 August, 2011 Samsung   The names of three upcoming Android smartphones headed to Sprint just got confirmed. The subscribers of the fourth largest US carrier will be getting access to Samsung Epic 4G Touch, HTC EVO Design 4G and Motorola Admiral. There is not much information about the specs of those devices, but its pretty safe to say that the Epic 4G Touch will be a Samsung Galaxy S II version, featuring a slide-out physical QWERTY keyboard. The HTC EVO Design 4G is rumored to be an HTC droid with a non-3D qHD (960×540) resolution, single-core processor and HTC Sense UI topping on top.     Tags:   Skype for Mac updated, adds support for Lion and HD video calling 9 August, 2011 Apps   After launching an iPad version of their app and updating the Android version to support more devices in the last few days, Skype has now turned its attention to their Mac application, which has just been bumped to version 5.3. The two major changes in this new version include support for OS X Lion as well as HD video calling.The latter will require you to have either the latest generation MacBook Pro, iMac or the Thunderbolt Display that have FaceTime HD camera built-in or a separate HD webcam.   Tags:   Apple launches $999 iMac for Universities 9 August, 2011 Apple   Apple has launched a new $999 iMac, which is now their cheapest iMac. But unlike the other iMacs, you can’t just go to a store and buy one. This one is limited to educational institutions only, so unless your school or college is spending money on these for your computer lab, you probably will not get to use one.   This model differs slightly from the base $1,199 iMac. The $999 iMac has a slower 3.1GHz dual-core Intel Core i3 processor instead of the faster quad-core Core i5 on the more expensive model. You also get half the RAM (2GB), half the storage space (250GB) and half the video memory (256MB), although you still get the AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics processor and the 21.5-inch, FullHD display.   The Thunderbolt port added in the latest model has been removed but the FaceTime HD camera has been retained. The education-only iMac also gets the standard wired Apple keyboard with the numeric keypad and wired Apple Mouse. Everything else remains identical to the $1,199 model.   Tags:   Google+ for iOS gets update with iPod Touch and iPad now supported 9 August, 2011 Google   The Google+ social network is growing steadily still and it has just welcomed iPad and iPod Touch users. Up until now the iOS app was only available to the iPhone, but the update that was just released fixed that. The bad news here is that iPad users are getting nothing more than an upscaled iPhone version that plainly is not optimized for the bigger screen.   The update to the app also brings new Huddle settings, aggregated circle add notifications and last, but not least performance and stability improvements. Hangouts are still missing in the latest version, though.   Tags:   Nokia N9 release countdown pulled down from the website 9 August, 2011 Nokia N9   A few days back Nokia had put up a countdown on the Swedish version of the N9 website, counting down the last 50 days to the launch of the phones. But the countdown has now been pulled down, as noticed by a reader of My Nokia Blog. There was no official announcement from Nokia when the countdown went live so expectedly there is none when it was taken down. Perhaps Nokia changed its mind regarding the launch of the phone on the aforementioned date or perhaps its just the countdown that has been taken down for now and they are still planning to go with the original launch date.   Tags:   HTCDev.com goes live, bootloader unlocking is still not available 9 August, 2011 HTC   HTC have not handled their bootloader policy with the greatest finesse, but after being somewhat reprimanded by their many followers, they were quick to try and make good on the can of worms they had opened.   As we havve already mentioned they have promised a fair many things and what they unveiled just the other day solidifies their promises to bring a smile back to your faces. For all you devs and tinkerers out there, rest easy as HTCDev.com is now online and awaiting for you to have a good root around. This new resource brings two of the three elements promised by HTC to the table which are available now. First off the Open Sense SDK, a set of tools designed to help developers harness the potential of the HTC Sense APIs and add-ons. APIs such as those used for the Scribe technology found on the HTC Flyer tab.   Tags:   BlackBerry Bold 9900 up for pre-order at Vodafone UK 8 August, 2011 BlackBerry (RIM)   The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is available for pre-order on the Vodafone UK website and will ship as early as 16 August. The device can be yours for free on a £41 per month contract or £399 on the cheapest £20.50 per month deal.   The box contains fairly little the phone itself, a charger and the battery quite modest. Depending on the tariff you choose you could get different minutes/texts/data. Check out the plans here. The Bold 9900 runs on BlackBerry OS 7, a single-core 1.2 GHz processor, NFC support, has a 5 MP snapper with 720p video recording and a 2.8-inch VGA (640x480) 287 dpi capacitive touchscreen display. We heard the device will land in the US, Europe and Canada in September, while the Carphone Warehouse has listed a shipping date of 12 August for Vodafone UK. Also the price listed on theCarphone Warehouse is free on a £31 per month contract. A little miscommunication going on here perhaps - we'll see.   Tags:   i’m Watch is powered by Android 8 August, 2011 Android   Watch phones are still fairly popular, but their main problem is that the models available aren’t very good. What if you could have a watch that’s powered by Android, is not a phone but can remotely control a smartphone and handle calls, show you incoming texts, notifications and so on and finally comes with a titanium or gold casing? Here are the basic specs of i’m Watch 55 x 40 x 9mm and 70g, 1.54″ TFT with 240×240 pixels resolution (220ppi), Android-based OS, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and last but not least, i’m Watch was designed in Italy (for what that’s worth). The watch itself doesn’t have phone functionality but connects to your smartphone (droids, iPhone, BlackBerries and WP7 phones are all supported). Over Bluetooth, the phone can make/receive calls, read texts and emails, show Facebook notifications and so on. The 350mAh battery is good for 3 hours of talking (though I can’t imagine that’s very comfortable), 30 hours standby (with Bluetooth on) or 48 hours (with BT off, but then you lose most of the features of i’m Watch).   i’m Watch runs an Android-based OS, but it does not seem to support standard droids apps. It does have an app store though, which can extend the functionality further. It runs on a Freescale i.MX233 CPUand 64MB RAM.     Anyway, if you are interested you can pre-order i’m Color (the plastic version, available in several colors) for €249 (that’s $360), i’m Jewel (titanium casing) for €599, or go for the pricier i’m Jewel options Yellow/Pink/Black gold for €11,999 or White Gold & Diamonds for €14,999. There is a i’m Special version too with "only with luxury materials” and price "to be define upon request"     Tags:   iOS 5 beta 5 is out OTA update 8 August, 2011 Apple   The latest Apple iOS 5 beta was released for developers on Saturday number 5 (build 9A5288d). The update is an OTA one, but if you do not get that option in the "Software update" settings menu check out some answers after the brake.   Aside from the iOS 5 beta itself developers also got the Xcode 4.2 Developer Preview 5, iTunes 10.5 Beta 5 and Apple TV Software beta 4.   The upgrade can be installed over the air, but before doing it you will have to erase the entire content and settings of your device (Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings). Its strongly recommended that you back up your device before doing so, using your iTunes beta 4 or iCloud so that you can just restore all of your settings later on. According to MacRumors some users have experienced no trouble even without erasing their iPhones.   Video Below!   Tags:   Samsung Galaxy S II Hercules for T-Mobile 8 August, 2011 Samsung It has been a couple of exciting days for all the folks, waiting for the release of the Samsung Galaxy S II across the Atlantic. Barely a day after the 4.5" screen Samsung Galaxy S II Hercules got caught on camera in Canada, more pictures of it emerged, this time bearing the U.S. T-Mobile brand. As you can see from the picture of the device back above, there is absolutely no doubt that thepreviously rumored Samsung Hercules will be a member of the Galaxy S II family. It will differ visually from its European sibling by its rounded edges, larger screen, and front button layout.     Reportedly, the phone will feature the 8MP camera unit which we know too well already, NFC capabilities, and category 24 HSDPA for T-Mobile upcoming 42Mbps HSPA+ launch. There is still no conclusive information on which dual-core CPU will the Samsung Hercules sport.   September 26 is the expected launch date of this monster droid, much in line with the leaked 2011 T-Mobile device road map which we reported some time ago. The price is rumored to be in the $300 range with a contract.     Tags:   T-Mobile-bound HTC Ruby and LG Flip II leak 8 August, 2011 HTC   If you were interested in finding out more about the leaked HTC Ruby and LG Flip II, we have some news about both. Why are we talking about the two together? Because both of them will be coming soon to T-Mobile users in the US.   We came across the HTC Ruby recently, when its reflection was captured on an HTC Flyer display. Now for the first time we have a full view of the front and it kind of looks like the Sensation, with the same battery cover removal mechanism at the bottom. Its unlikely though that the Ruby will be a high-end device like the Sensation and is likely to be pegged somewhere close to the Desire S. No launch date is known at the moment for this phone.     The LG Flip II was first leaked back in May and a few weeks later was captured on camera. Although the name might suggest it is a sequel to some phone that is not the case as there is no LG Flip. This phone has a landscape QWERTY keypad that slides out from underneath the display. But unlike all the other phones with this form-factor, the Flip II will have a split keyboard with a display in between. We can only guess what could be the purpose of this display and we feel it might be used in games. The LG Flip II is said to be launched on September 14.   Tags:   Boost your Android phone by Releasing RAM With Autokiller Memory Optimizer (Free Download) 7 August, 2011 Android   Have you ever wished to speed up your Android, but now known how? Have you tried task killers, but found it hard to tell whether you made an improvement? In this post, I will look at Autokiller Memory Optimizer, an app that gives you more control over how Android releases its system resources.   "You should not be using a task killer with Android" clearly explains why the task killers are not a good solution to fasten up your system in the Android interface. Briefly, we might say that the reason that task killers are no good for Android is that the same system regulates itself for releasing RAM memory. Process are not killed when you close the app, instead the process stays open until the system itself realizes it needs more memory to run a new process. This way, you can actually gain some speed when you restart the app, as its resources may still be in memory.   Just like a computer, a smartphone uses Random Access Memory (RAM) for processing the functionality of softwares and apps. When you are running low on RAM, your phone will start to slow down, because it needs more memory than is available. As a solution to this problem, Android devices has an autokiller that automatically shuts apps down when the memory used is close to the limit. Obviously this limit depends on the capabilities and configuration of your phone.   As the developer says: "AutoKiller Memory Optimizer is designed to fine-tune Android system inner memory manager routines to keep your device fast and smooth. It also features a full-powered process manager which lets you control your whole system."   Going for It The system itself divides the process into six different types, and here is where it gets technical. The six types are as follows. FOREGROUND_APP:  This is the process running the current foreground app.  We would really rather not kill it! Value set in system/rootdir/init.rc on startup. VISIBLE_APP: This is a process only hosting activities that are visible to the user, so we would prefer they don’t disappear. Value set in system/rootdir/init.rc on startup. SECONDARY_SERVER: This is a process holding a secondary server killing it will not have much of an impact as far as the user is concerned. Value set in system/rootdir/init.rc on startup. HIDDEN_APP: This is a process only hosting activities that are not visible, so it can be killed without any disruption. Value set in system/rootdir/init.rc on startup. CONTENT_PROVIDER: This is a process with a content provider that does not have any clients attached to it.  If it did have any clients, its adjustment would be the one for the highest-priority of those processes. EMPTY_APP: This is a process without anything currently running in it.  Definitely the first to go! Value set in system/rootdir/init.rc on startup. This value is initialized in the constructor, careful when refering to this static variable externally.   For every type of app, the system has a limit of pages (1 page=4 kilobytes) predefined. Autokiller Memory Optimizer allows you to modify this.   Video Review Below!   For the changes you can make you have the freedom to set as you wish, but there is a lock on the three first types of apps and there isalso a list of presets configuration as follows: Moderate (30, 35, 40), Optimum (40, 50, 60), Strict (60, 70, 80), Aggressive (82, 90, 98), Extreme (150, 160, 170), Ultimate (200, 225, 250) and (a wink from the developer about the TV series) Lost (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42). Autokiller presets Within these presets, you should try different ones, because every phone has its own RAM capacity and it would not be a good idea to set a killing parameter that is very close to your RAM total capacity as your phone would be killing apps constantly and you wouldn’t be able to use it at all. Processes list The app also categorizes the running apps in the six types and you can kill them manually for RAM release in the tab processes and the same occurs with the services in the current tab. Services list This app has also a donate version with some more features like the Chuck Norris mode when you can configure the app to use aggressive killing to release memory. It also gives the ability to set a different preset when the screen of the phone is off.    Download from Android Market FREE!   Tags:   Droid Bionic gets a teaser page at Verizon Wireless 7 August, 2011 Motorola If you are one of those folks desperately waiting for the Motorola Droid Bionic to start selling on Verizon Wireless we have sort of good news to share. I am saying "sort of" cause the device is still not available but is rather inching towards the big date. As part of that process, the Big Red carrier prepared a dedicated page from where users can sign-up and be notified when Moto baby hits Verizon portfolio, which we believe will happen at some time in 8th September. In the meantime, let me recap the Bionic key strengths they include a large 4.3-inch qHD touchscreen, 1GHz dual-core processor, 8-megapixel camera with auto-focus and HD video recording capability, 1GB of RAM, LTE connectivity, 16GB of built-in storage, an array of sensors, Bluetooth and a memory card slot. Sure enough, once released it will be the single best Android smartphone in Verizon portfolio.     Tags:   Apple Stores even allow Customer to bring ANYTHING, Even a goat (Video) 7 August, 2011 Apple   Apple Store employees are some of the nicest people you will find in any store around the world and are far more tolerant of erratic behavior than others, proof of that being people bringing in pets and dancing in front of the camera right inside the store without being thrown out.   But there has to be some limit to their tolerance and so to test this limit American comedian and writer Mark Malkoff decided to do some stunts in the Manhattan Apple Store. These involve ordering a pizza, having a romantic date, dressing as Darth Vader and even bringing a goat inside the store.   Video Below!   Tags:   BlackBerry App World 3.0 Beta Released 7 August, 2011 BlackBerry (RIM)   Team RIM have been working on the latest iteration of the Blackberry App World, version 3.0 and it seems that they are pretty pleased with the results. The changes are apparent from the off with a completely redesigned home screen which has re-prioritized functionality in the form of the new App World search bar. The search system allows you to sort by app name, price, rating, newest, best match and popular, in an attempt to streamline the search process. Underneath this sits the spotlight banner; showing the latest and most popular apps, akin to both the App Store and Android Market on their respective devices and rounding off the new home screen, there are now five new icons down at the bottom which are referred to as 'top level channels'. Two of the upper three icons, 'Games', and 'Themes' denote the most popular categories typically searched on the App World and the new 'My Account' option gives users easier/faster access to things like their BBID and payment options, handy. Information on each app has now been consolidated into a single screen which you can swipe left or right with, in order to see its summary, screenshots and reviews. The 3.0 update coincides nicely with the announcement of three new devices alongside the launch of BB OS 7 and as with the enhancements to the OS, App World 3.0 has a focus on sharing. Team BlackBerry have tried to make it easier for users to share apps with their friends, with quick access to popular social services like Twitter and Facebook or SMS, email and BBM sharing.   Tags:   Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 available for pre-ordering on Amazon UK for 605 GBP 7 August, 2011 Samsung   Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 is now available for pre-ordering on Amazon UK. The online retailer lists August 11th as the shipping date which is less than one week from today. The price, you ask? Its 605 GBP for the 3G + Wi-Fi version of the device with unspecified amount of built-in storage.   Its still pretty expensive but I guess something gotta give if you want to have one of the sexiest tablets announced to date. The Galaxy Tab 8.9 is one of my personal top picks its not too bulky, making it easy to carry around.   Tags:   HTC Puccini screenshots leaked 7 August, 2011 HTC   We have already seen leaked photos of HTC Puccini the Taiwanese company upcoming 10-inch tablet and have also "witnessed" the device getting the clearance from FCC. Now we have first screenshots to share, compliments of PocketNow and its ninjas.     As you can see from the images below, HTC seemed to have invested substantial resources to make its tablet different from the Motorola Xooms of the world. Not only will it have a dedicated stylus and LTE connectivity, but also a custom UI that fully takes advantage of the big 1280×800 pixels touchscreen to, for instance, show a number pad alongside the QWERTY keyboard. Moreover, one of the screenshots suggest the Puccini will ship with some easy to use syncing tool, which is always a plus.     Tags:   Photo Stats for iPhone makes infographics from your photos 7 August, 2011 Apple   Ever wondered where and how you take photos with the iphone? Sure you can move all images to a PC or Mac and analyze them using some good photo gallery software. Now you can do the same directly on your beloved smartphone with an app called Photo Stats. Available for 99 cents, it will create infographics from your photos, extracting metadata to show you how, when and where you take photos with iPhone.   After Photo Stats is started, it will analyze location and time where the photos from the camera roll were taken as well as other photo properties such as size, exposition, ISO, photo application used etc. All this data is then transformed into a cool infographic which can be viewed on the device as well as shared with friends on social networks or via email.   Tags:   Samsung Galaxy S I9000 Gingerbread 2.3.4 update Country Release Status 7 August, 2011 Samsung NOTIFICATION!   WE HAVE MOVED TO Gingerbread 2.3.5 Update PAGE, and will Continue supporting you for 2.3.4 & 2.3.5 Updates Release statuses for Countries. Plz get to the new page by clicking on the link below or the Photo above!     GET TO THE NEW PAGE       Tags:   Samsung Galaxy S II I9100 Android Gingerbread 2.3.4 update is Rolling out NOW (Daily Updated) 6 August, 2011 Samsung WE HAVE MOVED TO! We will Close this Page as we are Moving to a New Page for the "GB 2.3.5" Update, We will also cover the 2.3.4 Updates on the New page too so Don't worry if you still pending for the 2.3.4 Update, to make things easy we will merge the two pages. This Page will be closed on 30,September   Go to the New Page Click Here   Tags:   Google adds preview pane to Gmail 6 August, 2011 Google     The Google dev team announced a new feature for the Gmail web interface. The world most popular mailbox just got a preview pane, which allows you to check out an email without opening. Its almost hard to believe that this feature, which has been available on most desktop email clients and even the web interfaces of some competing mail services for a while now, is only now making its way to Gmail.   To enable this you will need to enter the Labs tab in Gmail Settings, where you will see a toggle button in the top right corner of your message list, which lets you switch between preview and list views.   Tags:   Speed Dots makes life of the visually impaired easy 5 August, 2011 Apple   Speed Dots is a California-based company that makes a special kind of screen protector for iPhones and iPod touches. These screen protectors have dots placed at strategic locations that helps visually impaired users operate these devices with ease.   These screen protectors work with the Voiceover feature in iOS devices that reads out functions on the screen to help visually impaired users but thanks to the dots, it makes locating a particular area on the screen much easier. The dots are all located where the controls usually lie on the screen and since most iOS applications follow the basic UI guidelines it makes the job of Speed Dots even easier.   Here are the functions that you can access with Speed Dots: Top Left: Back/Cancel Top Right: Ok/Done Below Ok: Add contact from address book in SMS/email Top Center: Search/Heading/Safari address bar Center of Screen: Number “5″ on the phone pad Middle Right: Send button for text messages Across the Bottom: 5 evenly spaced dots representing soft key functions Lower Left: Shift Lower right: Delete/Backspace   Tags:   ATT Automatically switches jailbroken iPhone tethering users to limited plans 5 August, 2011 Apple   AT&T has been saying for months that it will crack down on jailbroken iPhone users who are using its network for unlimited tethering. The carrier has separate individual plans foriPhone tethering, but some users havecircumvented the plans by jailbreaking their iPhones. Their free and unlimited tethering days, however, seem to be over. Some AT&T users are reporting that they are involuntarily being switched to 2GB tethering data plans because they have been using tethering programs like MyWi, which is unapproved by AT&T. For those who have been tethering with jailbroken iPhone handsets, failure to stop or to switch to the appropriate plans will result in AT&T making some changes to their contracts. An user reports: "I was just informed that as of Thursday August 11th 2011, if you use MyWi or any tethering on the phone or using the phone as a modem, AT&T will automatically change ur unlimited plan to a 2Gb tethering plan for 45 dollars without the customers consent. This is for those who received emails or texts about the use of tethering without an AT&T tethering plan." My advice to those who are using MyWi is to stop. Do not let your grandfathered unlimited data plan slip in favor of tethering. If you get switched to a 2GB plan, you will probably regret it. An AT&T spok personsaid: "Earlier this year, we began sending letters, emails, and text messages to a small number of smartphone customers who use their devices for tethering but are not on our required tethering plan.  Our goal here is fairness for all of our customers.  The letters outline three choices: 1) Stop tethering and keep their current plan (including grandfathered unlimited plan) 2) Proactively call AT&T or visit our stores and move to the required tethering plan 3) Do nothing and we will go ahead and add the tethering plan on their behalf after the dated noted in their customer notification" Again, if you have an unlimited data plan and you are using a jailbroken iPhone to tether via MyWi, you will have to make a decision about your usage very soon.   Tags:   Sharp new 7-inch Galapagos A01SH tablet unveiled in the land of the rising sun 5 August, 2011 Technology   Sharp and ISP, EAccess have teamed up to release a new tablet upon the Japanese market. On Wednesday the two companies unveiled the Galapagos A01SH tablet, as with many Japanese product names, not the catchiest in the book but lets see what it has to offer. For starters its a 7-inch display endowed tablet, running the latest Android Honeycomb 3.2, a smaller size than we have commonly seen for Honeycomb, via a 1024×600 resolution. Under the hood you get a dual-core Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 5MP shooter on the back with a single LED flash and a 2MP front-facer. Each Galapagos will come with a 42Mbps 3G mobile router too for browsing on the go which naturally leaves us to assume the tablet itself is Wi-Fi only. Internal memory clocks in at 8GB, expandable via SDHC up 32GB and battery life is quoted at 7.5 hours or 6 hours for continuous video playback. So what we have here is a capable, middle-of-the road tablet for the masses. Both companies plan to push the tablet out as soon as the end of August at least for their Japanese customers but its already been through the FCC gauntlet so chances are it might be coming to the US in the not-too-distant future.   Tags:   More details about Sony tablets S1 and S2 revealed 5 August, 2011 Technology   Sony never really went into details when it announced its two Honeycomb tablets S1 and S2. Now we have few additional tidbits of information to share, though we still do not have the complete picture. First of all, we know that the S1 which is the one with a single 9.4-inch IPS LCD display with the TruBlack and BRAVIA technologies will be available in 4 versions. Users will get to choose between 16 and 32 GB of built-in storage and whether they want the 3GZFi or Wi-Fi only version. Moreover, we have heard the S1 battery life will be comparable to that of Apple's iPad 2, which is about 10 hours. As for the S2, at least initially it will only be available with both 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, with 16 or 32 gigs of storage space. AT&T will most likely get to carry this PlayStation certified device and we can only hope they will subsidize it heavily with the end result being a price of about $200-$300 on a two year contract...   Tags:   Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 gets the promised TouchWiz update on time 5 August, 2011 Samsung   Samsung kept its promise and delivered the firmware update for their Galaxy Tab 10.1 Honeycomb tablet today. Available over the air, the update brings the custom TouchWiz user interface to the slate, making it the first Android tablet with UI customizations that run so deep.   The update, which should help the Galaxy Tab 10.1 stand out in the increasingly dense crowd of Honeycomb tablets, is just under 190MB so we would suggest you use a Wi-Fi network to get it. In addition to new apps like the Samsung proprietary Media and Social Hubs the new firmware brings a customized bar at the bottom, which allows you to launch specially designed mini apps.   Tags:   Amazon Hot Deal: Sprint Nexus S 4G for $0.01 5 August, 2011 Android   On the heels of that Droid Charge deal we covered few days ago, Amazon informed us about their latest offering. The online retailer has slashed prices for two additional 4G smartphones Sprint Nexus S 4G and Verizon HTC Thunderbolt. The first of the two is available for $0.01 for new users, which is a single cent more than what Best Buy offered on that one-day sale. Existing users, however, will have to shell out $99.99 to upgrade their contract.   As for the HTC Thunderbolt, new users will get it for $49.99, while those upgrading will pay $129.99. Moreover, if you are upgrading and you are also a part of a family account, you will have to pour out $189.99. No such complicated pricing comes with the Nexus S 4G, though.   Tags:   Apple largest smartphone manufacturer in the world 5 August, 2011 Apple   According to the latest report by the International Data Corporation Apple is now the world largest smartphone manufacturer. Apple shipped 20.3 million iPhones by Q2, 2011, up by 141.1 percent from last year 8.4 million and its international market share now stands at 19.1 percent compared to 13 percent last year. Samsung, meanwhile, showed the most progress, with shipments reaching 17.3 million, a staggering 380.6 percent leap from last year’s 3.6 million and now commands 16.2 percent of the market.   Both of them ousted Nokia and RIM from their number one and two positions, with the former recording a -30% drop in shipment and dropping down to number three and RIM, despite shipping slightly more units than last year, not able to keep up with the others and falling down to number four.   HTC did rather well too but had to settle at number five position. The second most popular smartphone maker in the US managed to ship 11.7 percent units worldwide, up by a healthy 165.9 percent, with 11 percent of the total market share. Brands such as LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson along with several others occupy the remaining 26.4 percent of the market.   Tags:   Samsung unveils uniquely-designed battery covers for the Galaxy S II in Korea 5 August, 2011 Samsung   To celebrate selling the 2 million Galaxy S II units in South Korea, Samsung unveiled uniquely-designed battery covers for its super-popular Android smartphone. There are four different designs to choose from, all of which will be available "in limited numbers." We have no idea what that exactly means and can only hope the electronics giant will bring these fashionable accessories to the Western hemisphere as well. In any case, as soon as Sammy device hits the U.S. market, I am sure accessory makers will do their best to offer an array of options that promise to make your Galaxy S II unique. In the meantime, those of us in Europe wait for the sexy white version of the smartphone to be launched.     For those of you living under a rock, you should know the Samsung Galaxy S II is arguably the best Android smartphone launched to date. It comes with a big 4.3-inch WVGA Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen, 8-megapixel camera, dual-core processor and all other standard for a high-end device goodies like an array of sensors, tons of memory and so on.     Tags:   iPhone 5 and simplified iPhone 4 hitting China Telecom in October 4 August, 2011 Apple   We can add more rumors to the iPhone 5 pilein terms of an October release as we have just learned that China Telecom might be landing the Apple smartphone that month. Apparently, China Telecom has entered into a "preliminary agreement" with Apple to sell the iPhone 5 before the end of October, along with a simplified version of the iPhone 4. Perhaps the latter will be an 8GB version selling alongside with the iPhone 5, much like the 3GS when the iPhone 4 was released.   Why release two versions of the Apple smartphone? a report says: Targeting the smartphone market upper and lower ends like this could prove a wise strategy."We estimate the high-end portion of China Telecom subscriber base is approximately 13 to 15 million, which represents a current revenue opportunity for the iPhone of $8- to $9 billion," White says. "We view this as the most reasonable near-term addressable market opportunity for Apple iPhone. However, if Apple offers a more economical, ‘simplified iPhone 4, the opportunity with China Telecom could be much larger." Seeing an iPhone 4 with a lower memory capacity launch with the new version of the smartphone will not be a surprise, but its a good move for Apple in a country where there is plenty of room in the low-end mobile market.   Tags:   Confirmed: White Samsung Galaxy S II coming to Vodafone, Three UK in September 4 August, 2011 Samsung   If you are living in the UK and love or have nothing against Three or Vodafone; and c) want to buy yourself a new Android smartphone we suggest you to wait a bit. The white version of the Samsung Galaxy S II is coming toThree and Vodafone in September. Thats like a month from now but it is well worth the wait. Actually that depends whether you really love the Galaxy as much as we do. The white version looks even better and will definitely help you stand out in the crowd not only will you have the Android smartphone everyone wants, but it will also come in white which is a rarity.   Tags:   The Retina-wielding iPad 3 is NOT happening this year due to factory shortage 4 August, 2011 Apple   Sorry to break the bad news to you, but it seems that the iPad 3 with a Retina display is not going to happen this year. Earlier, rumors pointed at the arrival of another Apple slate later this year with four times the resolution of its predecessor, but it seems we won’t be in luck this time.   And the reason is quite simple touchscreen and display manufacturers will be unable to produce the parts for the high-res iPad 3 until sometime in 2012. You see, the high-res tablet screens will enter production this year, but there’s no way the rate will be enough for a device as popular as the next iPad.   Of course, there is always hope, but at this point the more realistic thing to expect is for the high-res iPad to come in February or March next year, keeping to the usual Apple hardware update schedule.   Tags:   A look back at the life of Android (Infographic) 4 August, 2011 Android   In the short time that Android has been around, its evolved at an unprecedented rate to become one of the leading smartphone and now tablet OS out there.   Android Infographic!     Tags:   Results per page: 5 10 20 50 100 << 1 ... 36 37 38 39 40 ... 73 >> Description Josephws Posts: 7284 Our Mission is Keeping you updated with Latest Android News and Updates as it Happens! 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