Samsung Wave Launches in Europe Today

May 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Samsung announced in a press release earlier that the Samsung Wave launches in Europe today. The countries specifically mentioned include the UK, Germany and France.

The Samsung Wave uses the Bada OS which is Samsung’s new operating system. The OS is designed for those who enjoy connecting over socla networks. As well as launching the Wave today, the Bada SDK 1.0.0 will also be made available for download later on today allowing developers to start creating applications for the new smartphone. A competition has also been announced that will see a developer win a prize of $300,000 for the competition. Full details can be found at Samsung about that.

With the launch of the Wave, Samsung is actively constructing a total eco-system around bada platform including Samsung Apps. Samsung Apps will be available in 80 countries when the Wave launches, and will increase the premium content and applications pool through collaboration with partner companies and developers.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

Nokia N8 180 percent Faster than N97

May 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Although we had a bit of a let down when we heard the Nokia N8 wasn’t due to ship till August, we still hear good news today in that early benchmark tests reveal that the N8 is very quick.

The Nokia N8 has some decent specifications that include a nice 12 megapixel camera although the CPU was thought to be a little on the slow side at 680MHz. However, some benchmark tests have been performed that show the N8 is still quite quick and in fact, it maxed out the benchmarking software on some tests.

Finestfones managed to get some time with the Nokia N8 recently and they decided to use an app called Speedy Go! that allows Symbian users to test their phones and see what kind of frame rates they can get out of it. The Speedy Go! application lets users test various functions with or without the graphics accelerator on. When the accelerator was switched off the phone managed to beat the Nokia N97 by 180%. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

HTC EVO 4G Rooted

May 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The HTC EVO 4G hasn’t launched yet, and wont for another 11 days, yet some has already managed to root the new smartphone.

At the Google I/O event last week, the company handed out free HTC EVO 4G handsets to all those in attendance. One guy who attended the event decided to work with a couple of other friends over the weekend just gone and they managed to get root on the device allowing super user access to the smartphone.

Details of how to root the HTC EVO 4G have not been revealed just yet although we expect we’ll find out in the next few weeks after the launch of the new handset. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

BlackBerry Bold 9800 Pictures Leaked

May 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Pictures here show the BlackBerry Bold 9800. The new Bold 9800 when launched will use BlackBerry OS 6. The new BlackBerry 9800 is a slider phone where the screen slides upwards to reveal the usual BlackBerry style keyboard underneath.

As well as having a physical QWERTY the device also has a virtual keyboard on-screen that can be used when needed.

As for launch dates, we are hearing that the new BlackBerry Bold 9800 will start shipping in July sometime. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

Encrypted Google Lets You Search More Securely

May 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment

When browsing any website using the regular http protocol, your connection is unsecure and allows third parties to intercept what you are doing online. To prevent this the https protocol is used that encrypts data sent between your browser and the server. Usually you find https on login pages, credit card payment pages and other “secure” types of things you do.

Earlier this year, Google [GOOG] started securing GMail.com connections with https so that sessions on GMail were secure to prevent third parties snooping in.

On Friday, Google announced that the main search pages of google are now secured. The pages can be found at https://www.google.com. What this does is encrypt your search sessions with Google to prevent third parties snooping in. The https version is optional and by default you are still taken to the regular version. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Tech News

Apple iPad Didn’t Like the UK Heatwave

May 24, 2010 by 2 Comments

If you decided to use your Apple iPad in the UK heatwave over the past weekend then you might have got the message seen in the image above. This indicates that when temperatures approach 30 degrees C that using an iPad outside might not be possible.

One import iPad user said “Don’t leave iPad in the Sun… Whoops” and Jon points out that the “iPad didn’t like being used in the garden in 30 degree heat.”.

The good thing for those who still want to use their iPad in the hot sun is that here in the UK, it wont last long and we’ll be back to rain, cold and what not in no time. [Read more…]

Filed Under: iPad

HP webOS Slate Confirmed

May 22, 2010 by 3 Comments

Since the HP/Palm deal occured, a bit of speculation about HP launching a webOS based tablet has been happening. We heard a couple of weeks back that the new webOS tablet could be called the HP Hurricane although no official information has been provided about this being the case.

Yesterday a HP representative confirmed that the company would be working on a HP webOS based tablet that will be made available in October. As well as tablets using webOS, we also hear that smartphones will continue to use it although surprisingly, netbooks and smartbooks have been ruled out.

It isn’t clear at the moment if the new HP webOS tablet is going to be called the HP Hurricane. With a launch date of August though, it shouldn’t be too long before we get official details about the device. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Laptops

Apple iPad International Shipment Notifications Starting to Arrive

May 22, 2010 by 21 Comments

Just a quick heads up for those who have ordered an Apple iPad in the UK, Canada, Germany, Australia and a few other countries who are expecting deliveries next week. Apple [AAPL] is now pushing out notifications that shipments are starting.

For those who ordered on May 10 or 11, before the shipping date changed to June 7, you should be getting notification in the next 24/48 hours or so with details of the delivery if you haven’t received details already. [Read more…]

Filed Under: iPad

Google Nexus One gets Android 2.2 OTA Update Early

May 22, 2010 by Leave a Comment

First off, apologies for all the Google [GOOG] Android news today. With the Google I/O event and the announcement of Android 2.2, there’s plenty of stuff happening at the moment in terms of the new OS update.

TechCrunch has reported that Google is now pushing out Android 2.2 updates to Nexus One owners. MG Siegler said that late last night while putting his Nexus One on charge that there was a notification on his screen telling him a new update was available. After installing it took the phone up to Android 2.2 with all the new features, increased speed, flash browsing and a lot more.

The Nexus One update appears to have launched a couple of weeks early as Google had said just a few days ago to look out for it in the next few weeks.
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Filed Under: Cell Phones

Motorola DROID Android 2.2 will Happen

May 22, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Slashgear reached out to to Motorola recently asking about Android 2.2 updates to their Android OS based smartphones. They managed to get a reply from Motorola who basically said that Android 2.2 would be coming to the Motorola DROID as well as other devices.

‘We’re excited to see Google’s news of the next version of the Android operating system and look forward to integrating it on our Android-based devices as it’s made available to the open source community.

While I can’t comment on specifics, we do expect DROID by Motorola users will receive Android 2.2 as a software upgrade in the near future.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

Space Shuttle Prep and Launch Captured in 4 Minute Time Lapse

May 22, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Check out the amazing video below that shows six weeks of shuttle launch preparation squashed in to a 4 minute time lapse video.

The time lapse video was created by using several Canon EOS 5D Mark II cameras. The video shows the shuttle preparation where you see it being moved from one location to another and then winched up and attached to the external tank followed by the whole lot rolled across to the launch pad. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Camera Gadgets

Google Android 2.2 on G1 is Technically Possible according to Google Devs

May 22, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Google [GOOG] Devs at Google I/O held this week have confirmed that Android 2.2 FroYo running on the G1 is technically possible.

Many of the older device owners and early adopters will be glad to hear this one I’ve talked to a bunch of Google folks in charge of developing Android at the Google I/O, and they told me that technically it would be possible to put Froyo on any device on the market now, including the G1.

To get it working would require that some of the extra Google apps are removed and then installed afterwards on a separate partition. This partitioning is required due to the G1 being older and having a smaller internal storage capacity than the newer phones. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones