Reports are showing that those who updated their iPhone 3GS to iOS 4 have been suffering with a shorter batter life when compared to iOS 3.1.3.

A Norwegian journalist asked Steve Jobs by email if any deterioration should happen when iOS 4 is installed to which Steve simply replied “Nope”.

Over on the Apple forums a thread has started with a number of people (26 pages worth of people) reporting that they are also having problems with battery life with iOS 4 on their 3GS.

It isn’t clear if there is a problem that a software fix can fix. Ideas on the forum include closing out multi-tasking apps that are still running as well as lowering screen brightness and disabling push notifications. It isn’t clear if those will fix it enough to return to 3.1.3 levels and it isn’t clear if all users are experiencing a drop in battery life. [Read more…]

Garmin released a press release today saying the following… “Using “free” navigation abroad could cost over *20p per mile in roaming charges”.

185 mile Calais to Paris trip costs *£24 to £39 in roaming charges one way, *£52 to £78 return journey

Of course we should expect either TomTom or Garmin pointing out the “Shocking Costs” of a free satnav when they obviously don’t like the “free” model offered by Google and Ovi. But, it does raise an interesting point and a good warning for those navigating out of their own country where data costs would suddenly apply. [Read more…]

For those who use an iPhone or Android smartphone, you can now access YouTube more easily through the mobile browser. Google [GOOG] has announced a new update to m.youtube.com that brings more features to the small screen.

New features include a faster browsing experience along with a new designed UI that has large and touch friendly elements making it more easy to control. Search query suggestions have been added along with the ability to create playlists, designate favourites as well as like and unlike options for videos.

Also the new m.youtube.com site also follows more closely with the desktop version. When changes happen to the large site they should shortly after be added to the mobile site making your mobile browsing experience match more closely with the desktop version. [Read more…]

Opera has released a new version of the Opera Mini Browser bringing it up to version 5.1. The new update is aimed to improve browsing experience on devices that lack a good amount of memory as well as an optimised skin to make the browser easier to use. Other performance increases have also been added such as the ability to scroll through pages more quickly.

The update has been released for users using handsets such as the Nokia S40, Nokia 5130 XpressMusic, 6300, 2700 as well as the Sony Ericsson K550i and W810i. To grab the latest browser you can navigate to m.opera.com in your mobile browser where your phone will be detected and the relevant link provided with details of how to download/install it. [Read more…]

Finally T-Mobile decided to join the party and reveal the iPhone 4 UK price for those wanting to buy one on their network. Right now the iPhone 4 isn’t ready for sale on the network but it expected soon.

All contracts for the iPhone 4 are 24 months on T-Mobile with monthly costs starting at £25/month and going up to £60/month in £5 increments to £45 and a jump up to £60/month after that. Only the 16GB iPhone 4 is available for free on the largest price plan. The cheapest you can get a 32GB model for is £99 on the £60/month plan.

The data offered on each plan is not spectacular either with T-Mobile offering just 500MB on the majority of plans with the £45/month plan offering 750MB and the top plan offering 1GB of data. [Read more…]

When Google [GOOG] announced Android 2.2 they demonstrated that the new OS managed to increase performance on devices that can run it. The speed increase is possible because of a high performance JIT in the Android Dalvik runtime environment.

When compared to the iPhone 4, the Nexus One performs better in terms of javascript speed. The tests performed over at Arstechnica show that JavaScript runs three times quicker on the Nexue One running Android 2.2.

We compared these findings with that of our tests of Apple’s mobile Safari browser on the iPhone 4. The results show that the Android device delivers significantly faster JavaScript execution than the iPhone, scoring over three times better on V8 and almost twice as fast on SunSpider. Apple has some work to do it if wants mobile Safari to retake the crown as the fastest mobile browser.

[Read more…]

On July 15 the Motorola DROID X officially launches. When it does launch, it will come pre-installed with Google Android 2.1. The following month (August), the Android 2.2 update will be rolled out OTA allowing users to install Adobe Flash 10.1.

Adobe decided to tease potential DROID X owners by demonstrating how Flash 10.1 runs on the device. The company demo a few games which easily run full screen by tapping on them. The results are quite impressive and provide full screen action that Adobe said can be easily mistaken for a full fledged app running on the device. [Read more…]

Last week, Apple [AAPL] responded to the iPhone 4 signal/antenna problems. Their response kind of skirted around the real issue in that a problem was identified, but not the problem we were thinking of.

Apple basically said that the 5 signal bars that represent signal strength were being shown incorrectly. When signal was low the meter was still showing a good signal or maybe 3 or 4 bars when in fact, it should be just 1 bar showing. This error in calculation was due to the formula being used where the signal strength had smaller gaps on the higher bars (ie, a slight drop in signal could lose all bars).

What the fix will do is correctly represent the actual signal in bars with linear spacing between each bar. If your signal is low it will show 1 bar rather than the 3 or 4 bars you see now in low signal areas. [Read more…]

Every 14 days, Google [GOOG] runs a report showing what percentage of people run the various Android operating systems. Now that Android 2.2 (FroYo) is being pushed out to Nexus One devices, we are starting to see the new build of the OS show up on the charts.

Android 2.1 continues to take the lions share by being on 53.1% of Android smartphones. This is followed by 1.6 and 1.5 that command 23.5% and 21.3% respectively. Android 2.2 is next with just 1.8% although we need to take in to consideration that only in the last week or so that OS has been made available publicly.

It’s interesting to see the number of devices still running Android 1.5 or 1.6. The 1.5 update has been available a long time now which indicates there are still a lot of older devices around that are unable to update. [Read more…]

If you have an iPhone then it would be worth you checking out the Babylonian Twins game. The game is free today to download and features a number of levels and challenges for you to work through.

Think The Prince of Persia meets The Lost Vikings with a twist: You control two characters, the twin princes of Babylonian, one at a time and each with different skills, to solve challenging puzzles in a fast-paced action and smooth scrolling in a unique historic atmosphere derived from history texts.

[Read more…]

Omio claim to have received details of a big number of mobile phone launches hitting the UK this year. They also claim that the leaked roadmap shows several of the large phone manufacturers and isn’t just limited to one like we have seen several times previously.

The list starts with this month with the Nokia E5-00, the Sony Ericsson W20 and Samsung i5500.

August brings some Blackberry devices as well as phones from LG and HTC. Also a new Nokia X6 is said to be launching with even less storage at 8GB which custs the price down a bit. [Read more…]

The image here is probably a little small for you to make out, but check out the full version below. What you see is the HTC Aria heading to the AT&T network with 4G enabled. The red arrow points to the icon indicating 4G is active.

However, the HTC Aria is not a 4G phone and AT&T’s [T] network doesn’t have any 4G devices which indicates Best Buy made a bit of a mistake here when creating the image.

The image sits on the front of the Best Buy Mobile Buyers guide. [Read more…]