Gadget Venue

HTC has announced the launch of a new Android based phone called the HTC Wildfire. The first and last time we heard of the Wildfire was when HTC ran a poll on a Facebook page to let users choose the name of the device.

‘Today’s social networks provide an essential forum for friendship with more than 400 million users many of whom are young adults actively sharing their lives with their friends through Facebook, said Florian Seiche, Vice President, HTC EMEA. ‘HTC Wildfire makes the HTC Sense experience available to young mobile users for the first time. It brings all your communications into one place, whether it’s through Facebook, Twitter, text messages, images or email, ensuring that you are never far away from the conversation and always close to your friends.

The HTC Wildfire has a 3.2 inch QVGA screen. The screen is capacitive touch as we normally expect on this class of smartphone. A 5 megapixel camera is found on the back and all the usual connectivity is thrown in there such as WiFi, Bluetooth as well as GPS for tracking your current location. [Read more…]

Digitimes is reporting today that Foxconn will be shipping 24 million Apple iPhone 4G units this year. 4.5 million units will be shipping in the first half and that will be followed by 19.5 million units in the final half of 2010. Apple [AAPL] is planning on the 4G being a huge success.

Foxconn will ship 4.5 million units in the first half and 19.5 million units for the rest of 2010. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 4G on June 7, 2010 during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

We also hear that the iPhone 4G will use an IPS (in plane switching) screen just like the technology used in the Apple iPad. As well as using IPS the screens will also use FFS (fringe-field switching). The resolution of the iPhone 4G screen will be 960 x 640 which is significantly higher than the iPhone 3GS that has a resolution of 480 x 320 pixels. [Read more…]

Just a few weeks ago we came across a guy who successfully loaded up an Android OS build on to an iPhone 2G. Shortly after the same happened to the iPhone 3G. We now heard that the iPod Touch is now running Android.

The iPod Touch used here is the first-gen model and although the port is currently working, there are still a few loose ends that need closing off.

Meanwhile, I am working on some stuff that is slightly more fun. Last night, I brought openiboot for the first-generation iPod touch up to scratch so that it supports all the features the other ports of openiboot support: sound, multitouch and SDIO (for WLAN) are the notable things I had to fix. Earlier today, I figured out how to drive the piezoelectric tweeter on the iPod touch.

[Read more…]

Vodafone in the UK has made changes to roaming plans for those wanting to use data across Europe and the rest of the world on their mobile phone.

The new plans are set to launch on June 15 and will see data costing £1/MB for the first 5MB across Europe with charges set at £5 per 5MB thereafter. Out of Europe the prices step up to £3 per MB with the following data usage charged in 5MB blocks costing £15.

Simply put it means be very careful with data whilst out and about in other countries and check to see if a local SIM card from the country you visit offers PAYG voice and data usage for cheaper. [Read more…]

After a few false starts the Android 2.1 update is now available for the Samsung Moment on the Sprint network.

The update brings the smartphone up the most current Google [GOOG] Android OS bringing a number of enhancements to the device.

To get the update you need to manually download it online and copy it over to your phone. Right now there is no OTA update being pushed out and it isn’t clear if an OTA update will arrive. [Read more…]

When Google [GOOG] launched the Nexus One back in January, the company took a unique path to selling the smartphone. Instead of selling it through the various networks, Google decided to create their own online store at google.com/phone where you could pick up a handset and theoretically choose the network you wanted your phone to be on although not many networks actually accepted it.

This method led to a low amount of sales which probably came due to the lack of marketing that Google did vs what the networks would do if they could sell the phone direct.

We now hear direct from Google that they are now going to be selling the Nexus One through the carriers retail channels…

as with every innovation, some parts worked better than others. While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not. It’s remained a niche channel for early adopters, but it’s clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a wide range of service plans to chose from.

[Read more…]

We found out today that the AT&T [T] network is receiving an upgrade this year that will bring HSPA+ to 250 million users. The news comes from the AT&T president and CEO John Stankey who announced it earlier today in New York.

What this means is that those with compatible HSPA+ devices (which isn’t many, if any mind you), will get around double the transfer rate of HSPA at 7.2MBps potentially bumping it up to 14.4MBps.

This isn’t as quick as 4G LTE network although it is a nice step in the right direction for the company. [Read more…]