by Matthew on February 9, 2010
Since Google [GOOG] launched the Nexus One the company only gave online support which upset a few people. Yesterday the search company announced that phone support would now be made available for those who use the Google Phone.
This move comes after a month of the phone being first made available and allows phone users to call support if needed. The number to call is (888) 48NEXUS (63987) and lines are open from 4am to 7pm PST.
With a phone service now in place it will allow users to call for all technical issues along with shipping issues. It’s a big change from what Google normally does as the company generally use email, forums and populated FAQ sections to answer questions some of which aren’t the friendliest of places to get answers. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on February 9, 2010
The Motorola DROID is about to get an update to the latest version of Android bringing the phone from version 2 to version 2.1. We expected this would happen eventually but it came as a surprise hearing that Motorola are actually going to release the update this week.
Other devices are also mentioned by Motorola to be getting an upgrade, although no specifics are given as to what phones these might be, or what the upgrade might be, hopefully that means other phones running Android from the company will also get an update to 2.1. What we don’t know is if 2.1 will be going to other phones just yet, or perhaps they are announcing 1.6 – 2.0 upgrades. We’ll keep an eye out this week and announce when we hear anything. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on February 8, 2010
Documents were leaked online for BlackBerry Internet Services 3.0 that show two-way sync to GMail is finally going to arrive on BlackBerry devices. What this will allow the smartphone to do is update GMail with items read and sync them in both directions.
Although it must be interesting for BlackBerry users to finally get this functionality, this has been available on most other smartphones for several years now and shows how far BlackBerry phones are behind on some of the protocols.
Although the update will be made available soon it will be up to the individual carriers to push it out to BlackBerry phones which means a number of users could be waiting longer than others. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on February 8, 2010
The LG Arena Max LU9400 has been leaked by a site over in Korea. The Arena Max has been spotted before clearing WiFi certification and this, as far as I am aware is the only other information available right now.
The phone appears to have a 3.5 inch screen that’s touchscreen. A step up from the original LG Arena shows this model to have a Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm that runs at 1GHz. For connectivity it has the usual WiFi and Bluetooth arrangement. GPS is also included on this phone allowing for location based services to be used as well as navigation if software permits. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on February 8, 2010
Google Translator is a very helpful service that allows you to put some text in one language and have it translated to another language. This can be done by either copying some words in to a box, or by translating a full webpage in to a different language. However, Google [GOOG] have some bigger goals in that they are now working on translating speech-to-speech, meaning that the service could arrive on a mobile phone in the near future.
When I say the near future, what I mean is it could take a few years to get to the stage where accuracy is good enough to use it as a service at a basic level. The system is broken in to two parts. The first listens to the voice speaking and works out what was said, secondly, good translation is needed to get the right message across to the other language on the other side of the call. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on February 8, 2010
Some leaked pictures of the HTC Incredible smartphone have appeared online that show off the Android 2.1 device running the HTC Sense UI.
The Incredible runs a Snapdragon CPU (we assume to be clocked at 1GHz) and has 256MB of RAM. The WVGA screen measures around 3.5 – 3.7 inches and from what the tipster says, the screen could be AMOLED due to how vibrant it is.
Towards the bottom of the device an optical mouse pointer can be found and around the back on the “different” orange coloured back plate a couple of LED flashes can be seen. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on February 6, 2010
An image was posted on the ppcgeeks forum that shows the alleged date for the HTC HD2 to launch on the T-Mobile network in the US. The date shown on the image says we can expect the phone on March 24. No other information on the HD2 is provided other than it being Windows mobile based.
From what we learned recently, it seems like the HTC HD2 might come with some extra RAM and ROM which some say could be a preparation for Windows Mobile 7 although other hidden memory was recently found on other versions of the phone. It will be interesting to see if the T-Mobile version of the HD2 is the same as others when launched. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on February 5, 2010
Just in the last few days, Google [GOOG] announced multitouch support for the Nexus One. We now hear that a new update to the Google Maps software brings multitouch to DROID phones that use the latest version of the software.
If you have a DROID then load up the market and go grab the new version which is numbered 3.4. When installed you should have full pinch to zoom support in the mapping application. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on February 5, 2010
When a company design a mobile phone you might expect they simply design how they want the phone to look (being realistic) and then put a circuit board, screen and a few other functions inside such as a GPS receiver, BT radio and Wireless radio and give it a name. Google [GOOG] have put together a video showing what went in to designing the Google Nexus One phone that was recently released and from what I see in the video a lot more thought goes in to it than I expected.
The Nexus One was designed in detail from the material used for the casing right down to what microphone they use to pick up your voice when you talk on a call. More detail in the video reveals that the Nexus One in fact has two micophones with one listening to your voice and surrounding sounds and the second just listening to surrounding sounds. Waves are combined and all but your voice is removed from the conversation. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on February 5, 2010
When planning a trip out for a few days break you might be the sort who wonders if there will be a mobile phone signal available so you can check your work emails, personal emails and browse the web. If that description fits you then a new application could be the answer to finding honest coverage maps of various areas. A typical way of getting this data is to look on your phone carriers website and look at the coverage maps, however, they tend to be a little out sometimes.
A company called Sensorly has created the Sensorly app that users can install on their phone. When enabled the phone sends data back to the company who can then compile data from your signal strength information in areas you pass through. By collecting data from a number of phones, Sensorly aim to provide even more accurate coverage maps that will allow it to become more accurate than the carriers data. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on February 4, 2010
Vodafone have finally listed the Sony Ericsson X10 on their site and have given it a release date of April. The X10 is not available for pre-order just yet, but does have a registration form allowing you to sign up to receive details of when you can pre-order it.
The Sony Ericsson X10 is SE’s first Android based smartphone to hit the market and has been seen around several times keeping people wondering when it will actually arrive. The X10 has a 4 inch touchscreen, an 8 megapixel camera, GPS, Bluetooth and Wifi to name a few things. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on February 4, 2010
Some information has been discovered which indicates that the next generation iPhone could be capable of capturing video at HD resolutions of 720p.
The signs come from information that was revealed in the latest iPhone OS 3.2 SDK that was launched last week and reveals that the width of images has been upped from 768 pixels wide to 1280 pixels and is capable of capturing 921,600 pixels. A bit of quick maths shows that the vertical amount of pixels would be 720 making it 720p. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on February 4, 2010
Since the latest iPhone 3.2 SDK was launched last week a couple of companies have announced that they have updated their iPhone applications to allow VoIP calls. Those companies include Fring and iCall.
With two other companies offering VoIP over 3G, a number of people have been wondering where Skype stands in all of this as their application has yet to be updated.
An answer was given yesterday by David Ponsford who says that Skype are holding their application back a little longer so they can fine tune it to give the best call quality possible. Although no official date for release has been given his answer simply said “soon”. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on February 4, 2010
Starting today, the source code for the Symbian platform has been made open source and available for download.
“The dominant operating system provider out there is Symbian,” says Lee Williams, executive director of the Symbian Foundation, “and now we are offering developers the ability to do so much more.”
Symbian is the operating system used on the majority of Nokia mobile phones and according to statistics it runs on a massive 330 million device. The operating system has been used by Nokia for about 10 years now. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on February 3, 2010
After just announcing that over 1 million downloads of Ovi Maps Navigation were done in the first week of it being made free, we came across this cool little game called Ovi Maps Racing that allows you to race around streets anywhere on the globe.
The cool looking game has the ability to track your current location and allows you to create your own race from the streets where you live. The software lets you build your own tracks up by specifying which way to turn at various junctions. [click to continue…]
