We’re learning more about the Nokia and Microsoft partnership as days go on. The latest we hear it that Microsoft has given Nokia the ability to customize the OS as much as they like, in that they can completely change the look of it in a similar way to what HTC does with Sense on the Android platform.

However, it appears that Nokia wont be doing much customization and instead, will be keeping the changes to a minimum from what they say. In doing this, it will allow new updates to be rolled out quickly rather than delaying them due to too many modifications. [Read more…]

Microsoft has launched a new app in the Mac App Store called Windows Phone 7 Connector. The latest update now allows connection of a WP7 smartphone to the Mac so that it can sync with an iTunes library.

As well as being able to sync music, photos can also be syncronised along with video from the iPhoto App on Mac computers. [Read more…]

The roadmap for smartphones built by Dell has leaked, thanks to WPCentral.

What we learn is that several new devices will be launching this year, and to add to that roadmap, we see that two of them will be running a new version of Google Android that hasn’t been formally announced just yet. That is Android Ice Cream. [Read more…]

Although there aren’t many differences between the iPhone on Verizon when compared to the AT&T GSM model, there are a few subtle differences in how they work.

The first is quite a major difference in that conference calls are restricted to just 3 people on the Verizon model. This number includes your self. For business users, this could kill the deal as oft times, they need to talk to multiple people. Also, the Verizon iPhone doesn’t allow you to break off to private calls like the AT&T model does. When using the Verizon model you are either conferenced to someone else, or you hang up on someone else. AT&T gives the option to separate calls and hangup on 1 person at a time. [Read more…]

The FlexT9 is a virtual keyboard for Android smartphones. It has four ways to input data in to the phone which includes voice input powered by Dragon.

The four input methods include Speak: which allows you to say something along the lines of “text fred: whatever you want to say”. This function is said to be reliable.

The next input is Trace: that appears to be very similar to how Swype works in that you trace your finger over the keys. Next it’s the Write method that allows you to scribble letters and numbers down that are recognised and converted to text. Finally, you have the regular tap type keyboard where you can enter text the usual way. [Read more…]

MapQuest is a service I haven’t used for a few years. However, I see they are still in the game in that they have now just released an Android App that is available free for download in the Android Market.

The MapQuest App allows another option for turn-by-turn navigation on Android based devices. Other features include voice search, walking and driving directions, live traffic, voice guided directions and points of interest. [Read more…]

Rovio Mobile has confirmed that the popular Angry Birds will be arriving on the Windows Phone 7 platform. No specific release dates have been provided for the WP7 version of the game although Rovio confirmed that they are “working on it”.

You might remember that when Windows Phone 7 was launched, a Rovio/Angry birds logo was seen on the home screen of the device. This caused problems for Rovio in that they didn’t authorise the use of it. However, they have confirmed that this is in the past now and that development of the game is running smoothly. [Read more…]

Orange is planning to launch contactless payments in the second quarter of this year. The new payment system will be installed in the UK, France, Spain and Poland and when in use, will allow NFC equipped smartphones to be used as a mobile wallet to pay for items.

The first device to be made compatible with the service will be the Samsung Wave 578 although NFC and the services wont be just restricted to this particular device. Orange will launch more devices on its network over the coming months and years. [Read more…]

Over at MWC, Google announced that the Android Market now has 150,000 apps available for download. This amount is triple what it was 9 months ago when developers had collectively submitted 50,000 apps in total.

Numbers were estimated at recently to be around the 200K mark, although it turns out that this was a slight over estimate. However, 150,000 apps is still a good achievement. [Read more…]

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…]

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…]

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…]