Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
iFixit have been working hard again. This time they have done a teardown of a 15 inch MacBook Pro that was launched just a few days ago.
It didn’t take long for iFixit to achieve this teardown and from what we see inside there isn’t much different from the previous version of the MacBook Pro from last year. The processor has obviously changed and from what we hear there is a new antenna in there along with a slightly larger battery and tri-wing screws which are new to this build. [Read more…]
MuscleNerd has just launched RedSn0w 0.9.5 Beta that allows iPhone OS 4.0 to be jailbroke.
This is a beta release of redsn0w targeted at developers of jailbroken apps. It uses the same pwnage2 DFU-mode exploit that we’ve been using since the 2.x days. Nothing new is revealed to Apple, and it’s not applicable to the iPad. Don’t go near it if you use yellowsn0w, ultrasn0w, or blacksn0w.
As warned above, this isn’t for regular users. First off, you need to be a developer to get iPhone OS 4.0 on your iPhone (the beta version as the public hasn’t been release yet), and also there isn’t much that can be done just yet as developers haven’t really created any apps for 4.0 that would work on it just yet. [Read more…]
The Nokia X6 is a music phone that aims to join the touchscreen device area of phones that Apple, HTC and only a few others have managed to make happen well.
The phone it’s self looks to be a slider phone from when you first take it out of the box, but it’s actually not and just a touchscreen device with no stylus or physical keyboard. Reasons for believing it’s a slider is due to it being quite thick (13.8mm) which is a fair bit for a phone without a keyboard. Looks wise it looks quite sleek still even though a little fatter than most phones.
On the front of the device is a touchscreen that measures 3.2 inches. It is capacitive and has a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels which Nokia call nHD although of course, it’s no where near a HD screen in terms of pixels on the screen although it does look very clear when using the screen. Above that is a front facing camera that allows you to make video calls. Below the screen are three buttons which are send call, end call and menu. [Read more…]
Several days ago we posted about a hack that could be made to a jailbroken iPhone OS 4.0 3G device that allowed it to run multitasking. The reason the hack needs to happen is that the iPhone was deemed by Apple [AAPL] not to be up to the task of multitasking due to insufficient RAM and a slower processor.
The hack involves applying the iPhone OS 4.0 jailbreak and then editing a .plist file which simply has a line in it to enable or disable multitasking.
We came across the video below just now that demonstrates the multitasking on an iPhone 3G. From what we see it does run fine with the voice in the video saying that the processor seems not to be the issue here. [Read more…]
In an interview with Charlie Kindel about Windows Phone 7 he has mentioned that Microsoft [MSFT] will be adding features over time to the operating system. In the past he said that Microsoft have tried cramming all the features in to Windows Mobile. This in my opinion, has caused the OS in the past to not be where it should be. Microsoft are not focusing on doing it well.
The reason for adding features over time is to not rush them in to production models. Rather than adding a function like copy and paste, it will be added at a later date when they get it right. This follows how Apple [AAPL] work in some ways in that they don’t introduce something till it is done the best way possible. [Read more…]
If you purchased an Apple iPad this month you might have noticed that USB charging can be a bit hit and miss on some laptops and computers. This is due to the power requirements of the Apple iPad being a little too high for what a regular USB port can output.
The requirement that the iPad has is that at least 10 watts are needed from the port. Most USB 2.0 ports are below this causing the iPad not to charge when connected to your PC. This isn’t a huge problem though as it does come with a wall adapter allowing you to charge it that way.
The Scosche Dual USB charger has a couple of different USB ports on with one of them being designed specifically to provide enough power output to charge an iPad. This gadget is part of the Revive II line that comes with an AC adapter for usage in the home as well as a car adapter to charge while on the move. [Read more…]
A few days ago Apple [AAPL] surprisingly approved the Opera Mini web browser for the iPhone. Opera have designed their browser to be faster than Safari with claims from the company saying it can potentially beat it speed wise by up to 5x.
Of course 5x is quite a bold statement to work, however after testing my self, seeing a video online and seeing some test results compiled by LifeHacker it seems like this is almost the case in some instances which is quite impressive.
Opera Mini achieves fast page loads on the iPhone due to caching pages and compressing pages and images severside before the iPhone receives the information. By doing all the hardwork on a powerful server(s) before it gets to the iPhone, it simply lets the iPhone download the pages requested and due to them being compressed it also means less data to transfer to your phone. [Read more…]
Rumours are going around about Apple [AAPL] unveiling their next gen iPhone 4G, or iPhone HD or whatever it’s going to be called. The date rumoured is June 22
“For this particular occasion, Apple has once again reserved the very conference center where the company announced the three previous versions of the iPhone,” Messany reports. “So all signs, indeed, point to June 22nd proving the 4th gen iPhone’s ‘big day.’ Knowing Apple, however, we probably won’t know for sure until the evening of June 21st.”
Obviously this doesn’t provide concrete evidence, but it’s certainly the “right” time of year for Apple to make such an announcement (if they are indeed launching a new iPhone this year) and if they have followed the same pattern for the last 3 years then it makes sense they would hold it at the same location. [Read more…]
Opera have announced that their Opera Mini browser for the iPhone and iPod Touch has now been approved by Apple [AAPL]. The application is being made available over the next 24 hours depending on where you are. I tested in the UK just now and it was available to download for free.
The application was submitted to Apple on March 23 shortly after Mobile World Congress (where it was first demoed). After many people speculating that it wouldn’t be approved, we actually find now it actually is.
The Opera Mini iPhone browser comes with quite a big claim too with Opera saying it is capable of being up to 6 times faster that the native Safari Browser built in to the iPhone. This is all thanks to using server side compression of HTML and images making sure that the actually downloaded data is kept as small as possible, thus saving download time needed. [Read more…]
Google [GOOG] are getting in to the tablet game by creating a Google Tablet. This particular tablet computer they will be making will run the Google Android OS rather than Chrome OS and from what we hear, it will be created by Google (or perhaps as the Nexus One is… created by HTC but sold exclusively by Google).
We have heard of Google Chrome OS based tablets previously, but from what we understand now, Google is actually planning on running Android on this particular tablet. It isn’t clear if they will just run plain old Android 2.1 for example, on the tablet where everything is just spaced out more on the screen, or if a specific Android Tablet Edition OS will be made. [Read more…]
Reports today are indicating that Palm, Inc. are actually looking for buyers. Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) are reported to be wanting buyers and wanting bids in as quick as this week.
Three companies are known to be interested at the moment which includes HTC, Lenovo and Dell and there could be others too. Dell have also made comment through a spokesperson although HTC and Lenovo have declined to comment so far. Other companies that could be in the running for Palm include Huawei and ZTE who are not as mainstream in terms of known brands although they are certainly not small companies. [Read more…]
When the new Apple [AAPL] OS was announced last week, some changes to the development process also changed. The changes to iPhone OS 4.0 included the lack of ability to develop applications in anything other than Objective-C, C, C++ or JavaScript as executed by iPhone OS WebKit engine. What that means is software such as the Adobe iPhone Compiler now cannot be used.
If you remember over the last few years, Apple have never allowed Flash to work on the iPhone OS. After a few years of trying, Adobe recently changed their approach by creating software that allowed native applications to be compatible with the iPhone that were created originally in Flash and then converted to an app. This is now not allowed on the new OS which has upset Adobe.
Greg Slepak wrote to Steve Jobs when finding this out…
Slepak told Jobs he believed the reaction to the change across the entire internet was negative, including from Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, who Slepak called Jobs’ “biggest fan.” Jobs reportedly responded by sending a link to Gruber’s commentary on why Apple changed section 3.1.1 of its developer agreement. “We think John Gruber’s post is very insightful and not negative,” the Apple CEO allegedly said.
