Archives for February 2011

Three iPhone Prototypes Being Researched by Apple

Filed under unlikely, we hear rumors today that Apple is looking at three prototype versions of the iPhone 5. We have already heard about two of them which include the iPhone mini that has a 2.5 inch screen. The next model I believe is the regular iPhone 5 with a 3.5 inch screen, although other rumors hint at this model having a slightly larger 4 inch screen.

Finally, Apple are rumored to be testing an iPhone with a slide out QWERTY keyboard. This is the part of the rumor that I find most unlikely as it would be a major departure from the regular virtual keyboard that has been on every single iPhone since launch. [Read more…]

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Going Exclusive to Vodafone UK

Vodafone has announced that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be landing on its network in the UK as an exclusive.

The announcement was made on the official Vodafone UK twitter page.

Great news! Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will launch exclusively with Vodafone UK. More info soon! #mwc2011 #android #honeycomb

[Read more…]

HTC Revolver Android 3.0 Smartphone Leaked

The HTC Revolver was leaked yesterday and from what we can gather, it will be the first smartphone to run the Google Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS. Although Android 3.0 was designed for the tablet, Google has commented that it isn’t restricted to tablets only and that other form factors will also be able to use it.

Although the picture might of course be fake, ie: the confidential plastered all over it doesn’t make it look any more “secretive”, if true, it will have some fairly decent specs inline with what we are seeing appear from HTC at the moment. [Read more…]

More Facebook Phones Arriving This Year

We’ve already seen two smartphones announced today that are designed heavily to be used with Facebook. These phones are the HTC ChaCha and the HTC Salsa.

At the HTC event in Barcelona at MWC, Mark Zuckerberg said in a video presentation that we should expect more tightly integrated Facebook smartphones this year. [Read more…]

MORE/REAL Stylus Cap for Capacitive Touch Tablets

The MORE/REAL Stylus cap has been designed to use with devices such as the iPad, iPhone and any other tablet or smartphone with a capacitive touchscreen. The Stylus Cap is a small cap that comes in three versions with one specific for a brand of pen.

The first is compatible with the Sharpie Finepoint, the next caps a Bic Round Stic and the third is the correct size for a Pilot Fineliner.

On the end is a small rubber tip that can pass a small charge to the capacitive touchscreen making the screen detect input from that just like it would detect a finger. [Read more…]

HTC Incredible S, Wildfire S and Desire S Made Official

As well as announcing the HTC Flyer tablet as well as the ChaCha and Salsa smartphones, HTC has announced three other smartphones called the HTC Incredible S, HTC Wildfire S and the HTC Desire S.

The HTC Incredible S is pictured above and is a GSM device designed for the European market. It has an 8 megapixel camera on the back. The screen measures 4 inches and is a WVGA Super LCD screen. A front facing VGA camera is also included on the Incredible S. This particular smartphone will also be made available in Q2 although we see it will come with Android 2.2 rather than 2.4 like the other devices mentioned earlier. HTC does promise an update to 2.4 shortly after the phone launches. [Read more…]

HTC Flyer Tablet with Android 2.4 Announced

HTC has announced a new tablet device called the HTC Flyer. The Flyer has a 7 inch touchscreen that is also compatible with stylus input. It runs Android 2.4 which is an update to Gingerbread, but still called Gingerbread that brings Android 3.0 Honeycomb elements to the backend.

The tablet is also the first ever tablet that runs the HTC Sense UI. The stylus uses an active digitizer that makes it compatible with the capacitive touchscreen. By including this, they allow for those who want to use a tablet to scribble notes on with a pen rather than finger. [Read more…]

HTC ChaCha and Salsa Facebook Phones Announced

HTC has announced several new smartphones today. The first two are the HTC ChaCha and the HTC Salsa.

HTC has designed this pair of smartphones to function as “Facebook phones” in that the HTC Sense UI designed for these devices, heavily integrates Facebook connectivity.

Both phones feature a dedicated Facebook button allowing one-touch access to the social network. The Sense UI also integrates Facebook through out the functions of both smartphones. [Read more…]

iPad 2 Could Switch from IPS to PLS Display

Although we’ve heard that the iPad 2 wont have a Retina Display, we now hear that the screen technology behind the next gen iPad could be enhanced. The current model uses what is called IPS which means In Plane Switching. What this does is allows for wide viewing angles and a generally clear display.

We now hear that the iPad 2 will start to use PLS screen technology instead. PLS means Plane to Line Switching which offers even further clarity and even wider viewing angles.

The actual PLS technology supposedly being used is Super PLS which was first unveiled by Samsung a few months ago. [Read more…]

O2 Cloud Based Backup for Smartphones Announced

O2/Telefonica has announced a new service that will allow smartphones to easily backup data to the cloud. The service is currently codenamed Frigo and is set to launch this coming Spring.

Frigo is compatible with several operating systems which includes Google Android, Symbian and Windows Phone 7.

“The real value offered by Frigo with regards to multi-platform is ‘all my stuff, anywhere, anytime’. The outcome for users will be true ownership of their apps and content through a personalised and consistent service that can be accessed and enjoyed on the device of their choice.”

[Read more…]

LG Optimus 3D Made Official

The LG Optimus 3D has also been made official today. This new smartphone is unique in that it has dual-cameras on the back as well as a glasses free 3D screen. The 3D effect works by using a parallax barrier in a similar way to how the Nintendo 3DS screen works. What this does is splits the image in two and sends different details to each eye which in turn, makes the images pop out of the screen when used at a certain distance from your eyes.

Inside the LG Optimus 3D is a dual core 1GHz TI OMAP 4 processor. The 3D screen on the front measures 4.3 inches and is in a WVGA resolution. The parallax barrier can be switched off for times when it isn’t needed to be used. LG has also customized the menus on this device to give a 3D effect. Engadget has a short hands on with the device although you wont see the 3D effect of course. [Read more…]

LG Announce LG Optimus Pad

With the recent announcement of Android 3.0 Honeycomb, we are now finally beginning to see some worthy Android Tablet competitors. At MWC this week, several have been announced such as the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from Samsung to name just one of them. Another to be announced was by LG and is the LG Optimus Pad.

The Optimus Pad is the European version of the LG G-Slate. It has an 8.9 inch screen and when launched, will run Google Android 3.0. The NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor is used inside to power the device. On the back, a couple of cameras can be found that allow you to capture video in 3D. [Read more…]