Archives for February 2010

LG Air Sync Demoed

LG Air Sync is way that connects mobile phones to the cloud so that files can be seamlessly shared between devices. This technology is first to be used on the new LG Mini GD880 that was announced recently. However, the Air Sync software hasn’t hit it’s end of life just yet as LG continue to develop the software and have come up with a new concept shown below which makes use of a surface computer to move data to and from various devices.

The demo shows an LG phone being placed on a surface computer which immediately detects the phone and loads up a couple of sync areas. One of them is a PC Suite while the other is the cloud. By dragging files around to various areas it makes syncing files easy. An example shows a photo being placed on the surface screen and this being read in to the computer and then dragged to the sync folder where it then pops up on the phone. [Read more…]

HP Slate to be Priced Cheaper than the Apple iPad

Apple [AAPL] announced the iPad a few weeks back with a very surprising price tag of $499 for the low end model. This was half the price of the expected $1,000 that was rumoured and was a welcomed price tag.

From what we hear now, it seems like HP are looking at undercutting that price when the HP Slate is officially launched. It is unclear now which iPad price they are going to beat as the WSJ article does say they are undercutting the iPad 3G price, but either way it seems there will be some what of a price battle between the two with HP trying to tempt Tablet users their way.

We find that in general, Apple prices tend to be higher than devices running Windows as users generally pay a premium for their hardware, so it wouldn’t surprise us if the Tablet was to weigh in cheaper. [Read more…]

Huge SD Photo Card only Holds 60 Photos

Normally in the tech industry we see gadgets that shrink in size such as memory cards getting smaller but having much higher capacities. This time the sequence has reversed with this SD card being made huge but also being restricted in what it can hold… ie, just 60 pictures.

If you haven’t figured it out already then you will notice it’s actually just a photo album designed to look like an SD card. It’s capacity, measured in plastic wallets I guess, is capable of holding 60 pictures inside it. The 60 photos it can holds each measure the traditional 4 x 6 inches. [Read more…]

Motorola Backflip Android Smartphone on AT&T

AT&T have announced the availability of the Motorola Backflip which is the first Android phone to hit AT&T. The Backflip will be launched on March 7 in stores and online.

The Backflip features a 3.1 inch high-res screen. For connectivity the phone has 3G allowing it to connect up at speeds of 7.2MBps depending on the network quality in the area you are in. Other connectivity includes wireless, and AT&T will give access to their 20,000 hotspots across the US as part of the data plan that is included with the device.

The phone has a 5 megapixel camera and has software included that allows photos to be shared and uploaded online. [Read more…]

Windows Phone 7 Series Development Docs Leaked

XDA developers is a good place to visit to find gems of information along with ROMS and what not. In this case, a user on the forums managed to get hold of the development documents that show what is required when developing applications for the new Microsoft mobile operating system.

What the document also confirms is that the phone will be capable of multi-tasking, or I should say re-confirms as this was already known.

Developers seem to be quite restricted in the OS and will need to use managed code that will be closely audited. Tools to develop on the system will be Visual Studio along with Expression Blend. [Read more…]

Windows Phone 7 Series Dial-Pad Spotted

Microsoft [MSFT] didn’t get to show off all of Windows Phone 7 Series for obvious reasons in that there’s only so much time allotted to present things and it could get a bit tedious showing every single variation of screen that might be used on a 7 Series smartphone. Also the operating system is in very early stages of development which could be the reason this dial pad looks so simple.

The dial-pad pictured shows the usual 12 buttons along with alpha characters above each number and a space above that to show what number is being dialled. It does look simple and might not be the final product although with Windows Phone 7’s being based around simple it might actually be the real deal. [Read more…]

Flyfire Create Moving 3D Displays

The guys at MIT have come up with a concept idea that will allow 3D displays to fly around. The project is dubbed Flyfire and uses a bunch of miniature helicopters each of which house LED’s that can individually light up.

The helicopters fly synchronised and images are beamed to the array of LED’s in the helicopters to make a large flying image. At the moment it is unknown how far the MIT guys have gotten with this concept idea as flying a single helicopter is hard enough, let alone a few thousand of them flying within inches of each other.

From what we have found out, it seems the helicopters all react to each other. It seems that when one moves, the rest follow to keep the image stable in the air. [Read more…]

Droid Eris Getting Android 2.1 OTA

Users on various forums are reporting that their Droid Eris Android phones are starting to receive OTA (over the air) updates bringing the Android version up to the long awaited 2.1. The update also includes the Sense UI from what users are saying.

However, there are problems in some cases with the updates with a few users saying that the update has completely wiped their phone while others are reporting that they are unable to log in to Google once the phone has been updated.

What we recommend you do is sit tight for a day or so to hear for other users thoughts on the updates. If you find that you can’t wait then I recommend making a quick backup of your phone data so you can restore everything when needed if all goes wrong. [Read more…]

Windows Phone Classic

When Microsoft [MSFT] announced the new Windows Phone 7 Series on Monday we learned that the company had completely re-written the OS from the ground up rather than using older code. 7 Series will be launched later this year, while phones currently run Windows Mobile 6.5.X.

What we hear now is that the previous version (version 6.5) will now be known as Windows Phone Classic. The Windows Phone Classic will continue to be supported and Microsoft will continue to ship that version of the OS along side Windows Phone 7 Series. Obviously there will be two types of phones which will be the premium sort that have the necessary minimum spec to run WM7S and those cheaper phones that do not.

The name change isn’t happening yet from what we have heard and the older OS will receive it’s new name when Windows Phone 7 Series is launched. [Read more…]

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-TX5 and DSC-H55 Announced

Sony [SNE] have announced a couple of new cameras called the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX5 and the DCS-H55.

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-TX5

The Sony DSC-TX5 is a waterproof camera that is also described as Sony as being the world’s thinnest and smallest certified waterproof camera. It can be dropped in up to 10 feet of water without suffering any damage. Features on the TX5 include Optical SteadyShot that stabilises images. The camera has a 10.2 megapixel sensor and is the first Sony camera to use a new CMOS sensor called Exmor R that is certified to be freeze proof down to 14 degrees F. As well as being waterproof, the camera can also withstand dust and shock from a drop of about 5 feet.

Video on this camera can be captured in HD at 720p format and as it’s waterproof it also allows you to capture HD video and pictures in 10 feet of water for up to an hour at a time. [Read more…]

Kindle for Blackberry Launched

Amazon have announced that Kindle for Blackberry is now available. The software allows you to access all your Kindle eBooks while on the move on your Blackberry and syncronises all data including annotations created on your Kindle or computer with your Blackberry smartphone.

The software is compatible with several Blackberry devices which includes the Bold 9000, Bold 9700, Curve 8520, Curve 8900, Storm 9530, Storm 9550 and Tour 9630 smartphones.

The application can be downloaded over at Amazon and once installed gives you access to browse over 400,000 books including 101 of the NYT best sellers. [Read more…]

HTC Desire ROM being ported to Nexus One

The HTC Desire has the exact same hardware as the Google [GOOG] Nexus One phone although the Desire runs Sense on top of Android to give it an excellent user interface.

As with all things HTC, it wasn’t long before someone got to work on porting the ROM to somewhere else. A user has managed to get the Desire ROM to function on the Nexus One. One problem at the moment is that the ROM doesn’t quite fit for some reason, possibly due to Google slightly modifying the Nexus One code and perhaps not starting from a completely blank start, but with some re-arranging and moving some apps off the system partition the code can now run. The list of what actually works is included over on Modaco.

Some of the features that work include the trackball, hardware keys under the screen, the proximity sensor, light sensor, compass and G sensor. [Read more…]