Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
We are hearing today that Samsung has sold 600,000 Samsung Galaxy Tab tablets within the first month of it being on sale.
These numbers, although I haven’t personally confirmed it, would probably make the Galaxy Tab the most popular Android based tablet in the world. I can believe that as well as I don’t recall other tablets selling this well (the ones with Android on them). [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] just announced that the iOS 4.2 update was being launched today. Mixed within that press release were details showing that Find My iPhone was now being made a free feature and that a MobileMe subscription would no longer be required for you to track your missing iOS 4.2 device. The Find My iPhone feature is available on the iPad, iPhone 4 and 4th Gen iPod touch only and requires you are running iOS 4.2 to activate it.
The Find My iPhone (or iPad or iPod touch) feature is now free to use without a MobileMe? subscription and helps you locate your missing device.* The Find My iPhone app is a free download on the App Store? and lets users easily locate a missing device on a map and have it display a message or play a sound. Users can even remotely lock or wipe data from a lost device to protect privacy.
Google [GOOG] looks to be rolling out the ability to record calls within Google Voice directly within the Gmail integration.
The new feature was first heard of earlier this month and from what TechCrunch reports, the feature is now becoming widely available. [Read more…]
Just a few weeks ago, we reported that Apple [AAPL] was working on an integrated SIM card that could potentially cut the carriers out of the buying loop. What an integrated SIM card would do is come “blank” and when the phone is first used, you get to chose from a list of carriers which one you want to join and what price plan on. This in turn would prevent the need for Orange, O2 and others from selling the phone as essentially, they wouldn’t be needed as such (other than providing a price plan of course).
It seems that Apple will not actually be going down this route any more now due to backlash from carriers. One particular carrier is believe to have said…
“Apple has long been trying to build closer and closer relationships and cut out the operators. But this time they have been sent back to the drawing board with their tails between their legs.”
Orange and T-Mobile (AKA Everything Everywhere) is expected to announce today a subsidized iPad.
Rumors are hinting that the iPad could launch with a long term (18 to 24 month) contract with a price of about £200. [Read more…]
The Kinect controller for Xbox has certainly done very well. It uses an array of cameras to track where you are and track your movements. This data is then used to make you as the controller in various games.
The video clip below shows what happens when you decide not to do anything at all other than sit there… Of course this wont work for all games, but just for fun we thought we’d show it anyway to reveal what games with auto steering (or bouncing off walls) can achieve. [Read more…]
The AutoBot is a car connection kit that connects up to the OBD-II port on your car. This particular port has been available on all cars built for about the last 10 years as standard.
When connected up, the AutoBot allows you to diagnose and track problems with your car as well as control various functions (if available) such as locking and unlocking doors, opening windoes as well as track with GPS where abouts your car is parked (or traveling when stolen). [Read more…]
We are no closer to knowing if the Playstation Phone from Sony Ericsson is actually real or not, but more hints that it could be made available have arrived. This time the information comes from the Sony Ericsson CEO who suggests that a new device will be launching in February of 2011.
The CEO basically said that with all the smoke around, there must be a fire in there somewhere. He then dropped a hint that a new device will be launching at Mobile World Congress this coming February. [Read more…]
Some interesting information has been found in the iOS 4.2 GM updates that have been available for the last few weeks to iOS developers. The new hints in the beta code hint that Apple [AAPL] could be moving towards a free version of MobileMe. In the original iOS 4.2 GM launched early November the MobileMe login was switched from a MobileMe username to an Apple ID username and password.
The latest GM build (numbered iOS 4.2.1) also now has hints in the form of some error messages that have been added as follows…
“The maximum number of free accounts have been activated on this iPhone” and “This iPad is not qualified for free MobileMe service.”
The Kinect has once again been made to work as something different to what Microsoft originally intended. This time, the Kinect is used to track a broom handle and with that tracking, displays a lightsaber blade on the screen along with the noises a Star Wars weapon would make.
The Kinect Hack comes from a guy named Yan this time. The software tracks the wooden stick and then real time software makes it glow on screen. [Read more…]
Two new live wallpapers have been released for Android based smartphones. The first one is a Doom themed wallpaper that shows characters from the original Doom that launched in the 90’s. You cannot play it like the original game, but you can tap the screen to give your character powerups whilst watching him shoot the bad guys. [Read more…]
Nokia has announced the Nokia X2-01 today. The new smartphone has a QWERTY keyboard below the screen and has a 2.4 inch QVGA display.
The X2-01 keyboard has been designed for those that use a lot of email and text messages and allows a more tactile way to type when compared to a virtual keyboard. Facebook has been integrated in to the X2-01 with friends status’ showing up on the home page of the device. [Read more…]
