Augmented Reality is a way of overlaying information on a computer screen on top of real time images. A company in Amsterdam have just released the latest version of Layar called Layar 3.0 that ads more data on to real-world images giving a unique experience when using the software.

The software has already been released for Android 1.5 and 1.6 users with a version compatible with 2.0 coming soon. Also, the iPhone version has been created but is just awaiting approval from Apple which as soon as it gets clearance it will be available for download. [Read more…]

The Motorola Sholes Tablet has been spotted. The new tablet based device runs Android 2.0 we expect although it could even possibly run Android 2.1 at the time of launch.

Technical specs show it to have a 550MHz processor that is found in the DROID along with a 3.7 inch touchscreen that has an 800 x 480 resolution.

Other features on the Sholes (codename) tablet include a HDMI output port allowing you to hook it up to HDTV’s along with a 3.5mm headphone jack. The camera is capable of capturing images at 8 megapixels and the flash is xenon based. [Read more…]

Fring is a free application available for a number of phones including the iPhone and has been available for quite a while now. Fring has now received an update that allows the iPhone and S60 phones to make free video calls over wi-fi

Although a step in the right direction, there is a problem as the iPhone only has a rear facing camera, meaning that the person who you are having a video call with wont be able to see you. If you have an S60 phone with a forward facing camera then 2 way video calls are possible. [Read more…]

AT&T have announced that they are now offering a voicemail to text service that is capable of converting your voicemails to either text messages or emails (or both). The new service costs $9.99 a month and allows you to save messages, forward messages as text or email and gives you more ways to reply to the sender of the message.

It will be interesting to hear reports of how the service works and what runs in the background at AT&T to convert voice to text and how it will stack up against other options available. [Read more…]

Some pictures of a new phone from HTC have been revealed which show it being called the HTC Touch.B. Previously it has been mentioned as the HTC Rome.

It was expected that the Touch.B would run the Android 2.X operating system although MobileFrance have said other wise showing that it actually runs a QualComm platform called brewmp. [Read more…]

Yesterday we showed you some screen shots of Android 2.1 running on the Hero. The guys over at XDA Developers have managed to obtain a leaked copy of the OS and made it available for download on the Hero.

The installation of the ROM is fairly straight forwards although you will first need to root your phone. After that you simply run a backup, wipe the phone and install the new ROM.

As the procedure does involve messing with the ROM and installing the ROM we always recommend proceeding with caution as you might end up with an expensive brick. [Read more…]

Starting August 1st this year, Google opened up an Android Developer challenge to see who could come up with the best application. After a few months of developing the results are now in with the winners announced.

The winners of the Android Developer Challenge 2 are firstly an application called SweetDreams that allows you to automatically change your settings to aviod calls at night.

Next is the “What the Doodle!?” application that functions as a real-time online multiplayer game. The idea behind the game is that one player draws out a given phrase and other connected need to guess what is drawn.

Finally in the winners area is WaveSecure that protects the data and privacy of your Android based phone. The application allows you to track the location of your phone, track who is using it. Other features in WaveSecure allow you to remotely lock down your phone as well as back up data, remote wipe your phone and restore data. [Read more…]

The Zii StemCell processor is described as being a system-on-a-chip that runs on an ARM Cortex Chip. The system was designed to power gadgets such as mobile phones along with PMP’s and settop boxes.

Information on a new Zii powered smartphone has been revealed that runs the Android OS. The smartphone is called the Zii Trinity and runs a 1GHz processor and has support for 3D graphics along with a 1080p HDMI output port.

The Zii Trinity has a 3.1 inch multi touch OLED screen that can display a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. Hardware support is used for the 3D graphics and support for OpenGL 2.0 accelerated gaming is also available. [Read more…]

The LG eXpo has been spotted although no official press release has been launched just yet. The eXpo is a Windows Mobile 6.5 device that has perhaps one of the most unique features of a phone… a detachable Pico Projector courtesy of Texas Instruments.

When attached, the Pico Projector allows items displayed on the screen to be thrown on to a nearby wall. Having the Pico Projector detachable is a good move in my opinion as it will allow the phone to stay a decent size when the projector is not needed.

The phone looks like it will be launching on to AT&T’s network when launched. [Read more…]

Recently we mentioned that the Google Phone was being worked on and that perhaps, it is to have an early next year launch. A trusted source mentioned recently to Gizmodo that the Google Phone “is a certainty” along with a bit more information about what we can expect from a phone.

The Google Phone is not another phone that runs Android… it is actually a phone built (perhaps we should say branded) by Google [GOOG] that will apparently run a new “real” version of Android. The version of Android running on this new hardware will be different to what has previously been seen such as 2.0 on the Motorola DROID or the even more recent news of Android 2.1 running on the HTC Hero. [Read more…]

Recently an iPhone app developer spotted a new iPhone reference number in some analytics software what referred to iPhone 3,1. Currently there are no known phones assigned that reference number. The last Apple [AAPL] phone to launch was the iPhone 3G S that had the reference iPhone2,1. This could potentially mean that Apple are working on a new iPhone that will possibly launch next year.

The Apple iPhone3,1 reference was first spotted just a few months back in the firmware, but this time the information was found available in the wild, so to speak, making it a little more likely that a new phone is on it’s way. [Read more…]

Some screen shots were spotted showing the HTC Hero running a yet unlaunched Android 2.1 operating system. The phone is running Sense and screen shots of both portrait and landscape modes can be seen running.

Some speculation of why the screen is in landscape mode has been questions. Two possibilities are that Android 2.1 is heading to a new phone with a slide out keyboard. The second option is that accelerometers are just detecting the phone is being held landscape and has rotated the screen accordingly. [Read more…]