Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
Nokia has opened up pre-orders for the Nokia N8 for those in the US. The cost of the smartphone is $549 and it doesn’t have free shipping for some reason.
The N8 has a release date of the end of September 2010 listed which puts it a month or so behind the current UK launch although we have heard rumours that the UK has also moved a little closer to October although that isn’t confirmed yet.
The N8 is available to pre-order over at the Nokia site available here. [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] only just released the iPhone 4 within the last couple of months which of course naturally leads us on to speculating what will or wont be made available in the iPhone 5 when it launches next year.
Recently, Apple hired an NFC expert (Near Field Communications) as a Product Manager for Mobile Commerce.
Most recently Vigier was product manager for mobile wallet, payment and NFC at US mobile payments specialist mFoundry. There he conceived and managed both the PayPal Mobile service and Starbucks’ barcode-based mobile payments service and was also responsible for the development of mobile wallet applications for two top US mobile network operators and an NFC wallet application for a top three US bank.
Pleco is releasing an updated version of it’s Chinese Dictionary software. The new version makes use of the camera on the iPhone and uses OCR to track Chinese characters and provide the meanings of them on the screen.
To look up with a symbol means, you hold the camera over it and the software recognises it and instantly pulls the description from the dictionary.
The app is version 2.2 and will be launching next month assuming approval goes successfully. The price of the app isn’t known just yet but the company behind it say it wont be too expensive. [Read more…]
S.N.A.P is an app for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod touch) that has been designed to analyse the privacy settings on your Facebook page.
SNAP means Social Network Analyzer for Privacy and works by logging on to Facebook with it. At that point, it checks the settings on your account and provides a grade based on what your privacy settings are.
S.N.A.P. stands for Social Network Analyzer for Privacy. Working with Facebook, S.N.A.P. gathers privacy information about your profile then grades you on how visible you are to the outside world.
S.N.A.P. also features an in depth search of your Facebook profile for any keyword. Not only will it tell you how many times the word is found, but will show you exactly where, when, and how it was posted.
Google [GOOG] will soon allow PayPal to be another method to pay for Android apps from the Android Market. Currently there are two options available with the first being Google Checkout and the second being carrier billing (which is slowly rolling out). Adding PayPal to that mix opens up more chances of developers to pay for apps with a more common billing system.
Although adding PayPal as a payment method wont suddenly make developers in to millionaires, good apps are needed for that, it will still open it up to people who do not want a Google Checkout account, but already have a PayPal account. [Read more…]
We’ve mentioned before that the HTC HD2 is capable of running Android thanks to some work done by guys over at the XDA Developers forums.
The reasons you might want to install Android on a Windows Mobile device is that the hardware is great but the current OS is just bad. It also won’t be eligible for a Windows Phone 7 update leaving users with Windows Mobile 6.5.
If you are unsure how you can put Android 2.1 on the HTC HD2 designed for Windows Mobile 6.5, check out the details below. They must be followed step by step as doing anything like this voids warranty and has the potential to make your HD2 in to an expensive brick. [Read more…]
Vodafone has launched a new Wireless Mobile broadband hotspot. The mobile WiFi, or MiFi, allows up to 5 wireless devices to attach up to it and share a 3G or HSDPA signal depending on the area where you use it.
The Vodafone model is made by the same company who make the Three MiFi, Huawei and works very similar to the Three model in that you switch it on, it connects to a 3G or HSDPA network and then allows up to five wireless devices to easily connect. Unlike the older mobile broadband modems that required you install software to connect up to the 3G services, the MiFi models have software built in that connects up for you and allow anybody to connect by entering the correct encryption key. [Read more…]
It appears that on August 18 the HTC DROID Incredible Android 2.2 update will be arriving, or at least will be starting to arrive OTA to users.
The information comes from Mashable who heard from sources that Verizon [VZ] were to start pushing the update this Wednesday.
We’ve heard from our sources that the Verizon team members already have Froyo installed on their Droid Incredibles. Now the update is essentially ready for primetime. Froyo has been making its way onto some of the most popular Android handsets in recent weeks. The HTC Evo 4G, the Motorola Droid and the Nexus One have the updated OS.
The Vlingo app for Android OS based smartphones has just dropped in price from $10 down to free. This is more than likely due to Google Voice Search which just had a large update recently which essentially duplicates a lot of what Vlingo can do.
The problem Vlingo was challenged was with the price of the app. With Google [GOOG] offering Voice Search for free, it seems to have forced the company in to doing the same. Another problem that could make Vlingo struggle is that Google could potentially start making Voice Search an integrated part of Google Android. [Read more…]
When the Apple iPhone 4 was first revealed a few months back, Steve Jobs described the iPhone as being like a Leica camera. This inspired one guy to look up what a Leica camera was and then adapt an image and resize it so it could be printed out and attached to the back of an iPhone 4.
By adjusting an image of a Leica M8 and resizing it to the size of an iPhone 4, Rapahel Salgado of BeyondTheTech managed to print out a Leica camera with the flash and camera aligned with the flash on the iPhone 4 as described below…
I took the image and with the magic and efficiency of Photoshop, I proportioned it to the dimensions of the iPhone 4, stretching a few things around, especially to accommodate the place where the rear camera and LED flash would line up. I also removed the “M8” model name and replaced it with an “iP 4” as well as the Leica name to Apple. Lastly, I changed where it said “LEICA” in the lens to “IPHONE.”
I printed it out from my Canon photo printer and cut it so it lined up nicely in the inside of the Griffin Reveal’s clear backside, used an Exacto knife to cut out the rear camera and LED flash area, and topped the edges with a black permanent marker to hide the edges of white photo paper.
Sprint [S] is launching the Samsung Epic 4G in the next couple of weeks. The Epic 4G is Sprint’s version of the new Galaxy S class smartphones that Samsung is pushing out. The differences with this version of the Galaxy S class is that it has a slide out QWERTY keyboard along with 4G connectivity making it easier for some to use who prefer not to use a virtual keyboard, and also quicker thanks to it using 4G rather than 3G.
The screen on the Epic 4G is 4 inches and is a Super AMOLED type built by Samsung. The touchscreen also uses capacitive as can be expected on a phone of this type. When it launches it will run Google Android 2.1 which will be followed by an OTA update to Android 2.2 later on this year.
The processor inside is a 1GHz Samsung Cortex A8. [Read more…]
Another Windows Phone 7 smartphone has been captured and uploaded. This time, it’s an unknown model captured by a developer who uploaded images to the web and posted links on Twitter.
PocketNow point out that it is different to the Samsung Cetus and different to the Samsung Taylor.
It looks to have an AMOLED display, more square edges than the other two devices mentioned and of course, the three buttons below the screen that are a requirement for all Windows Phone 7 smartphones. [Read more…]
