Archives for October 2009

Earlier today we posted about Google Maps Navigation. The navigation program is free for Android 2.0 based devices and could potentially be a more popular option than the other free satnav software available from a few companies. We just came across the official video showing a tutorial of exactly what the software is capable of doing.

As mentioned on the video (below) the Google Maps Navigation features voice guidance and turn by turn navigation which is exactly what is required on Android based phones. [Read more…]

After seeing a review, pictures, teasers of the new Motorola Droid it has now been made official. It will be going to the Verizon network in the US on 6th November costing $200 after a rebate.

From the announcement we see that Droid doesn’t refer to just this particular phone and instead, it’s a family of phones with this Droid being the first. Spec wise it has a 3.7″ screen that can display 480 x 854 pixels along with a Cortex A8 processor. For storage the Droid has a 16GB SD card included in the package.

The only real thing that’s new here is the dock that you get. Other than that the biggest thing is the software it runs. Motorola Droid runs Android 2.0 which was officially announced by Google yesterday and is a fantastic update to the previous 1.5/1.6 versions currently available. Google just today announced that they are offering a free navigation application for Android 2.0 owners which furthers the abilities of the phone. [Read more…]

Google [GOOG] have announced that they have created Google Maps Navigation that will be available on Android 2.0 phones. The new navigation system is free and is far better than the standard Maps program that is currently available. Whereas before the map system wouldn’t hand out directions (although it could follow you), the new version provides full navigation features.

The Google Maps Navigation is completely free which gives it an advantage and it works based on data downloaded as needed so you wont actually need to download all the maps. Searching is made easy as you can voice search and don’t necessarily need to know the full address to plan a route. The system also can use traffic information and use street view for helping you in your travels. [Read more…]

Symbian have launched the Horizon App store that aims to compete against app stores already open by Android, BlackBerry, iPhone and Windows Mobile. The Horizon App store went live today along with the first 50 applications. Symbian also have plans to allow 1000’s more applications through the system next year.

The Symbian operating system is used on a lot of phones including many Nokia phones, Samsung, Sony Ericsson etc… and a lot of these companies already have started app stores. Nokia for example, has the Nokia Ovi store. Each of these app stores will support the new Horizon store and integrate offerings in to their stores. [Read more…]

The highly anticipated HTC HD2 has just been unboxed and uploaded to Youtube in the last day. Although the box used is just a temporary box, it’s still good to see the actual phone and what it looks like while booting up etc…

We are still waiting for a HD2 to arrive here and have been told that there are no review units around anywhere just yet… so someone must have a a secret stash of them somewhere… do tell if you are one of those who know.

Items included in the box are a charger, hands free kit along with inline controls as well as a USB cable for charging/syncing. On to the phone it’s self, the most striking feature of the HTC HD2 is the huge screen that the phone has. It measures 4.3 inches and is capacitive as well as being multi-touch. Powering the phone is a 1GHz snapdragon processor to make things run quicker than average. OS wise it runs Windows Phone (WM 6.5) that uses HTC sense style overlay to make things run a little nicer. [Read more…]

Google [GOOG] this morning officially announced that Android 2.0 is now supported in the SDK. Android 2.0 was only first revealed just a couple of weeks back in a surprise video posted by Boy Genius Report and after their preview with it, it was revealed that a number of fantastic updates had been made.

Android 2.0 is also known as Eclair and it comes with a number of updates that allows more seamless integration on the device for contacts, syncing due to new API’s being created to provide a lot more power to the developers. Quick Contact is also capable of being embedded in to applications.

The new Bluetooth API provides a more seamless way of letting phones connect peer-to-peer for gaming which can include screen sharing where graphics on one screen can be seamlessly shifted on to a second phone like a multi-monitor setup. [Read more…]