Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
The HTC EVO 4G has a wireless chip inside capable of 802.11n. However, for some reason a software change limits it to slower wireless speeds.
The guys at XDA developers have again been busy and managed to create an update that re-enables 802.11n on the HTC EVO.
To run the code change you need to download a HEX editor and make changes to a certain file. When editing the file, all it takes is a few character changes and a save and re-upload to the phone. [Read more…]
iFixit got an iPhone 4 early and tore it down. The company determined that the front of the iPhone 4 is made of Gorilla Glass although the back glass on the iPhone 4 is not Gorilla Glass and instead, some unidentified hardened glass.
Engadget managed to get hold of a review unit about a week ago and within that week with normal wear and tear, the back seems to have received a few scratches.
The scratches are difficult to see under normal light, but if you hold it against the light they are clear to see. [Read more…]
Google [GOOG] has updated Google Maps for Android. The latest version is 4.3 and it brings a few new features to the smartphone.
The first one is Train times which allows you to check what time trains leave the local train station. When browsing a map a list of stations is seen on the map and you can either select the closest one to you or pick one of the train stations manually to see when the next train leaves.
Another feature lets you see reviews of a local restaurant. When maps is loaded up you can see a number of places where you can eat and quickly tap to find reviews of the restaurant.
Instead of poring through full reviews, you can start by looking at what the most frequently mentioned aspects about a place are, such as food, service, atmosphere, or anything else people keep mentioning. Just like on Place Pages for your computer, the color-coded bar gives an overview of how positively people are talking about any individual aspect. Tap one to see more details like the actual review snippets. Whether you’re looking for top-notch service or a vibrant ambiance, you can now pick just the right place to go.
The HTC EVO 4G has a restriction that prevents it running 2D and 3D graphics at speeds greater than 30 frames per second.
The XDA developers community believed that this was a software cap although HTC said it was not software but hardware. Some speculation indicated that the restriction was due to the HDMI chip used. Also HTC claim that the restriction is to do with improving battery life.
The guys at XDA Developers have managed to bypass the restriction which now sees the smartphone running at speeds of up to 54 frames per second or so. [Read more…]
The HTC Wildfire is now available in the UK on the Vodafone network. Vodafone is the first network to offer the phone which is ready for ordering today.
Price wise you can pick one up for free on just a £20/month contract. This is a 24 month contract and you do get a decent amount of minutes, text and data as well. With this particular plan you get 300 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of data.
The £25 and £30/month contracts also of course have the phone for free, but the more you pay for the plan, the more free minutes you get. Data however, stays restricted to 500MB. [Read more…]
Update: Pocket Gamer also reports the same details as Recombu.
The iPhone 4 UK launch is tomorrow. We still haven’t heard officially from Three, T-Mobile or Tesco Mobile although Recombu are reporting the Tesco Mobile iPhone 4 prices. We are unsure if they are official as there is no information on the Tesco website regarding the prices. As Tesco are late to the game though (not as late as Three and T-Mob) we thought we’d publish them anyway to give you an idea of what you might be paying.
Tesco has managed to offer iPhone 4 on 12 month contracts. £20/month gets you 250 minutes, 1GB of data and unlimited text messages. Handset prices on this tariff will set you back £349 for the 16GB iPhone 4 and £429 for the 32GB model. This is of course assuming that the tariffs are correct. [Read more…]
The iPhone 4 has already been torn apart by iFixit thanks to UPS or FedEx delivering some iPhone 4’s a couple of days early. Reviews of the iPhone 4 are now online.
Out of all the reviews we noticed the call dropping problem hadn’t totally gone away. All Things D said that the phones biggest downfall was with the AT&T network and even recommended carrying a second phone with you on another network if you wanted an iPhone but needed to make calls more than using data.
The iPhone 4 review at USA Today concludes…
Cutting through the hype, Apple has given longtime diehards, and first-time iPhone owners, plenty to cheer about.
If you have upgraded your Apple [AAPL] iPhone and want to jailbreak iOS 4 then the iPhone DevTeam now have some software that can do just that.
The DevTeam has released Pwnage Tool 4.01 that can jailbreak iOS 4 under certain conditions. It will successfully jailbreak iPhone 3G and 3GS models, but does not support iPhone 2G, iPod Touch and the iPod Touch 3G. Also there’s a few problems/caveats when jailbreaking the iPhone which you can see listed below. Make sure you take a read and study the rules before trying to jailbreak the device. [Read more…]
Before the official launch date, iFixit managed to legally get hold of an iPhone 4 to teardown so they could reveal what’s inside the production model.
The iFixit team had someone fly out to Japan to pick up an iPhone 4 first, but as UPS has been delivering iPhone 4’s early to some customers, they managed to borrow one from someone in Silicon Valley.
The teardown reveals that there is 512MB of RAM in this iPhone 4. Previous leaked models were believed to have 256MB, so the double amount seems to be a last minute decision. [Read more…]
Google Voice was launched last year. To use the Google Voice service you had to have an invite. This requirement is now gone and Google [GOOG] has now opened up Google Voice to all people in the US.
The Google Voice service is a platform that manages your communications. It allows you to have a single number that when people call, it will ring all phones connected to that number. By doing this it lets callers more easily contact you rather than chasing you around on various numbers.
Other features include cheaper international calls, free texts and calls to those in the US and a voicemail service that works like email. [Read more…]
Google [GOOG] demonstrated Android 2.2 Froyo about a month ago. When it was first announced the company said that they expect it to be available for Nexus One owners in the next few weeks. A thread over at Google now has over 1275 responses with people asking when it will be available.
Finally a Google employee chimed in and gave the following information…
Hey guys,
Just dropping in to let you know that the FRF72 build that is floating around is not the official update. The Android team is feverishly working to get a final version out the door, but like passion-ate has mentioned this will only happen once a release candidate meets our quality criteria.Since today is the Summer Solstice, we know things will be heating up a bit so hopefully Froyo will be on its way shortly. Thanks for your continued patience!
-Ry Guy
We mentioned earlier today that it appeared that the iPhone 4 from Apple [AAPL] could be landing early in the US. We expected some to show up tomorrow which would make it a day early. However, it looks like some are being delivered today. A few photos have been sent in to Engadget that show an iPhone 4 being unboxed.
It is unclear why the iPhone 4 is shipping early in the US although some believe it could be related to potential activation issues after all the pre-ordering issues that happened last week. By letting some out early it could space the load out on the Apple and AT&T [T] servers making the official launch day run a little smoother. [Read more…]
