Google [GOOG] seem to have made a step in the right direction after some criticism about upgrade prices for the Nexus One. The step in the right direction sees Google refunding $100 for those who paid the upgrade price of $379 for the Nexus One bringing the price down to $279.

For those who have already purchased the phone at $379 a rebate should be with you in the next 14 days. For those of you looking to upgrade now you can go ahead and pick up the phone at $279. [Read more…]

Another day another rumour for the Apple [AAPL] iPhone 4th Gen… this time rumours are saying that the phone could perhaps have a touch sensitive case that allows it to function like the Magic Mouse.

I assume that’s the back casing of the phone covered in sensors as well as the side allowing gestures to say change the volume by sliding fingers down the edge of the screen or side of the phone and maybe a quick way to scroll through contacts by flicking the back of the device. [Read more…]

Nokia [NOK] have announced the release of the first major update for the Nokia N900. The update follows a minor update that was released earlier this week. This particular major update brings a number of improvements to the N900 including full compatibility with all SIM’s on the Three network as some of them previously were not able to work correctly.

The Exchange software has also been updated allowing the N900 to connect to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 allowing the phone to attract more business users who need Exchange integration on their device.

Other items that have received updates include Ovi Maps that has an improved search function and improved route calculation. Other smaller features have been worked in to the update that were requested by users. [Read more…]

For those of you who run an Android based mobile phone, the Android Backup software called Lookout could prove handy to have installed. The backup software has a feature that automatically uploads all new content added to the phone to a webserver each day at midnight. Backups can then be easily restored by connecting a new phone up and downloading the data or by accessing a website.

What happened in this weird situation is that a couple of teens broke in to a couples home and stole two Motorola Android phones. One of the teens decided it would be a good idea to capture some pictures of himself with the phone… which incidentally had the Lookout software running… midnight struck and the newly captured images were backed up to the internet as usual that allowed for the owners to download photos that the criminal took of himself. [Read more…]

Well, the rumours just keep on coming now for the next gen iPhone that is more than likely to be announced June. However, we thought we’d mention this one as reports/rumours are now saying the Apple [AAPL] phone is due out in April this year along with having a nice OLED screen, a dual-core CPU and the ability to do video calls.

As well as having a dual-core CPU inside the device is also to gain an improved graphics chip. Speculation is saying that an ARM Cortex A9 CPU could be what gives the 4G iPhone the speed boost. [Read more…]

Rather than using a pin code, Android phones have the option of setting a pattern to unlock the phone for usage. The pattern is made up of a series of 9 dots that you join up in a specific order you choose. If you get the pattern correct the lock screen lets you through.

By using all 9 dots on the screen it makes for a potential 362,880 combinations which seems to be secure. However, the Motorola DROID has a problem in that if you call the phone you can easily bypass the screen by answering the call. It seems right now that only the DROID has the issue as it runs Android 2.0.1.

It isn’t a matter of just answering the call though as the hacker will need to access an application as well as hit the back icon which bypasses the lock screen.

The risk this threat poses is that someone who has physical access to your phone that is running the 2.0.1 Android version, knows your number can access your phone. [Read more…]

Google [GOOG] have announced that the Android 2.1 SDK is now available for download. By launching the SDK it allows developers to take advantage of the new functionality found in the latest Android 2.1 OS found on the Google Nexus One.

Although not too much different from Android 2.0, it will allow developers to access new hooks such as the active wallpaper feature found on the Nexus One. Some of the new feature won’t be compatible with older Android phones, but as there are new devices preparing for launch it should be a good enough reason for developers to get working away. [Read more…]

More rumours have been started saying that Apple are looking to launch the next gen iPhone (4th gen model) in May rather than waiting for an official announcement in June like usual. The reason for this is that they are looking to counter Google who are looking at releasing a new Google Phone (perhaps a Nexus Two) around that time.

In my opinion this rumour needs to be taken with a bucket load of salt although it would be interesting to see if they did move because of a competitor. [Read more…]

The iPhone doesn’t yet support Adobe Flash which is a bit of a frustration for those wanting to browse sites like Youtube as well as online gaming sites to name just a couple of the flash based sites out there. The battle has been going on for a while with Adobe trying to get Apple [AAPL] to allow flash to work, but as of yet it hasn’t happened for various reasons which we wont go in to here (see TechCrunch for more details on that).

However, Adobe have introduced what it calls Packager for iPhone that aims to tackle the problem from a different angle. The software now allows flash developers to easily convert flash apps in to iPhone apps that function the same and can be sent in to Apple for approval to be sold in the app store. The software is still in an early beta test phase and is part of the Create Suite 5 developer tools pack. [Read more…]

The VPhone was on show at CES in Las Vegas last week. The VPhone comes from a company called Saygus, a small company based in Utah. The VPhone allows for two-way calls to be made on the Verizon network and is part of Verizon’s [VZ] Open Development initiative.

The VPhone’s hardware specs show that it has an 806MHz processor (Marvell PXA 310), has 512MB of flash memory, 256MB of RAM and can support up to 16GB SDHC cards. The camera on the back of the phone can capture images at 5 megapixels while the one on the front used for video calls has a VGA resolution. [Read more…]

We managed to test the First ELSE Mobile Phone from a new company called ELSE Mobile at CES this week. From the few minutes we got to play with the phone you can tell they have a very unique and smart approach to the phone design. It was immediately easy to use and intuitive.

The keyboard was really good at figuring out what you typing, and despite it being small, it was pretty accurate. For being a pre-production phone, the UI was extremely fluid. The phone app was really cool. [Read more…]

Cyanogen has launched a new image for the Google Nexus One phone that opens it up to have a number of new applications installed such as tethering.

The sub title of the post suggests that this is just the start of a lot more to come as it says “something to play with for now…”.

To get the new image on to the Nexus One it requires that you root your N1 (and warns you to not follow through if you are worried at a slim chance of bricking your phone). Once rooted you then just follow some simple instructions to download and install the image on the N1. [Read more…]